


The Garden of Two Rivers

by Bearit



Category: Jade Empire
Genre: Backstory, F/M, Friendship, Minor Canonical Character(s), Minor Character Death, POV Minor Character, Romance, Slice of Life, Tragedy, Wordcount: 30.000-50.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-03-28
Updated: 2008-03-27
Packaged: 2017-10-16 03:57:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/168168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bearit/pseuds/Bearit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tales of the students at Two Rivers School.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Jing Woo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jing Woo adjusts to his new life at Two Rivers School and his budding friendships with Wu the Lotus Blossom, Dawn Star, and Kia Min.

He was fifteen years old, and he was dripping from head to toe all over the wood planks outside of his new master's house. Thunder raged violently outside, and his master quickly bid him inside and handed him a towel and his neatly folded new uniform. One glance at the elderly man told the boy that he had made the right decision coming here. He knew many unwanted or turned out children eventually made their way over here if they used to live close enough, and he could see why. The master's eyes told the boy that he was kind, but stern, and would look out for each and every one of his students, come what may.

It wasn't long until he found himself ordered to put on the new uniform and already running off on an errand for his new master. It was his first day, and he could not mess this simple errand up. He just had to carry a message to one of the older students, who his new master predicted would be in the garden with her friend, and report back with her. He excitedly bowed, exited the room and ran in the direction his master had pointed him to, catching a quick glimpse in a deep puddle along the path of himself in his new uniform.

It was modest attire, which the boy found all too suiting, but he felt like he belonged in it. He took a quick second to admire himself. He knew that there was nothing special about it; these were the clothes of a junior student. If nothing else, he would probably get only the attention of senior students wanting an easy spar…

No. Something about his new master's demeanor told him that he would never allow bullies like that. He might allow senior students to spar with junior students only to learn from the elders. That was the kind of school that would gain such a great reputation on the borderlands, after all.

He continued on his way, and he was dismayed to see that he was already getting mud splattered on the leggings of his new uniform. It was a silly concern, he knew, because he was already drenched from the pouring rain. But he had delayed long enough for such a vain reason, and he could not delay more. Through the pathway he traveled to the garden, and he wished that the sun shone instead of hiding behind thunderous clouds. He could tell this place was the most beautiful place of the school, and it must be even more so when the yellow rays of the sun were illuminating it. The border between land and stream was marked with artfully crafted red fencing and a modest bridge, and there was a mill steadily spinning where water fell from a small hill. The trees swayed faintly, delicately brushing their green leaves against the wind and the rooftop of the crimson house that seemed to be a subtle centerpiece of the garden.

This must be it. The boy ran quickly to the house and quickly but gently pushed the sliding door open. He didn't enter. It was rude, and he didn't want to get the straw mats within wet and muddy.

He saw two feminine figures sitting and chatting over what looked to be tea, and it was enough for him to bow and say, "Excuse me, I am looking for Student Wu the Lotus Blossom, and I bring a message from Master Li."

"I am Wu," one of the girls said. "Please just call me Wu. The full title is hardly necessary among my peers."

"Yes, of course," he said as he released himself from the bow hesitantly. The word 'peers' seemed odd to him. As he stood straight, he received his first look of the girl who spoke, and he nearly caught his breath.

Even at fifteen years old, he could appreciate beauty when he saw it. Her eyes were kind and brilliant, and her face was not the pale skin of nobility but slightly tanned as though she spent most of her time outdoors. Her long black hair was loose and silky and hung like a painted wind across her waist. He understood why she called him a peer, as well; she, too, wore the robes of a junior student, though their master had referred to her as his senior. He didn't question it. She has obviously been here longer.

"I haven't seen you around here before," she said. "Are you the new student Master Li told me to expect?"

"Expect?" The boy had been directed to the school by Gujin only the day before. Did word travel around a village such as this so quickly? He supposed he should not be too shocked. He remembered the farmlands and how quickly news spread from neighbor to neighbor as if everyone could read everybody's minds. "Uh, yes, I guess I am. My name is Jing Woo."

The girl smiled brightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jing Woo. As I said, I am Wu. This is my best friend, Dawn Star."

She motioned for the other girl to come, who seemed meek as she did. The boy bowed to the other girl, who did likewise. The other girl was just as beautiful, the boy could tell, but there was something else there. Wu looked lively and full of life, while this other girl, Dawn Star, seemed sad, cold, and distant.

"Welcome to Two Rivers, Jing Woo," said Dawn Star.

"What is the message that Master Li sent you?" Wu asked.

"He… he wanted me to take you to see him," said Jing Woo. "He said to go as soon as possible. I am to accompany you."

Wu laughed. "I hope you won't be this formal with me for as long as we're here at this school," she said. "But, yes, we should go. I'll come back as soon as I can, Dawn Star. We can talk more then. Thank you for the tea."

"Anytime, my friend."

When Wu left the building and shut the door behind her, she examined the skies momentarily. Jing Woo did not have a moment to ponder her expression when she turned to him with a bright smile. "Let's race!"

Jing Woo jumped. "What?"

"It's the best way to keep from getting too wet," she said, and then she looked him up and down carefully. She giggled. "Well, you're already drenched. But let's race anyway!"

She took off ahead of him, seeming just as unconcerned with the mud and water as he had been concerned on the way over. He stood there a moment, unsure what to make of this. They wore the same uniform, the uniform of a junior student, but she had been here longer, and obviously so much longer. He had a preconceived notion of the students here; he thought they were all mature and withdrawn. With a master like his new master, it seemed as though the students would be nothing but. Wu, however, was… much different.

Of course, older student or not, he was not about to be beat by a girl, so he took off running behind her. She was almost too fast for him; by the time he caught up to her she was already at the steps of Master Li's room, panting and laughing.

"Come on, you slow poke!" she called to him with her hands on her waist. Despite her talk about running keeping her drier, her hair stuck to her wet face and water tripped like a waterfall from her elbows. "We can't keep Master Li waiting!"

He jogged up the wooden steps and put his hands on his knees as the water flew from his face onto the planks. "That wasn't fair. You got a head start."

"So are you saying you'll beat me if I didn't?" she asked.

"I certainly would have a better shot of it!" he shot back, and then he realized exactly who he was speaking to again. It wasn't one of his buddies back at the farmlands. It was his senior. "Er, I'm sorry for speaking like that…"

Wu frowned. "I thought I told you there's no reason to be that polite with me. We're both junior students. I'm betting we're the same age, too. Sixteen?"

"Fifteen."

"So I'm one year older. Hardly a reason for me to be superior to you. And I bet that one year is more like a handful of months, anyway."

"You've still been here longer and have a greater rank in Master Li's eyes," Jing Woo answered back. "It's a matter of respect in the order of things, isn't it? I know you won't be wearing the clothes of a junior student for too much longer."

Wu sighed, as if mournfully. "Never mind," she said softly. "Let's just see Master Li now."

Jing Woo felt guilty almost immediately, though he was unsure why. Was it something he said? For some reason, even though he knew Wu for only a few short minutes, he did not like to see her upset like that. Of course, he did not like to see anybody upset like that, but with others in the past, he knew why they were upset, especially if he were the cause of it, and he could apologize for it immediately. This time, it was clearly his fault, but he did not know why. He could not apologize if he did not know what he did wrong, he knew that much.

Wu slid open the door to their master's house and bowed. Jing Woo followed suit, and then followed her inside the room. She seemed not to worry about the water dripping onto his nice straw mats, and Master Li did not scold her for it. Jing Woo was timid about following suit, but he knew that if he followed his senior's example he would not suffer much punishment.

"Ah, good, there you are," he said. "I see you've met our new student, Jing Woo?"

"Yes, Master Li, I have," said Wu, in a tone of voice that Jing Woo had expected all the older students to have. He found himself surprisingly mournful to hear the spirited, lively voice vanished from her, and disappointed that she fell into his previous stereotypes.

Master Li nodded. "I wanted to try something a little different. When students your age first join the school they have usually acquired other martial abilities, and I was wondering if you knew of any yourself?"

"A little," said Jing Woo, "but most of it was just to defend myself in case thieves or bandits came snooping around."

"So you learned a freestyle method, and never went to a school before coming here."

It was not a question, but the pause was just long enough that Jing Woo knew he must respond. "No, Master."

"If anything we teach you conflicts with what you have learned before, I trust that you will follow our methods instead of your previous… style," said Master Li.

Jing Woo bowed. "Of course."

"Jing Woo, you will go through most of the same teachings that the other students go through. You will have the majority of your classes with Smiling Mountain and if he assigns you to another student to spar against, you will spar against him. I will on occasion pull you aside to tutor you privately. Unlike the others, however, you will learn your basics from Wu the Lotus Blossom for a few weeks."

Wu widened her eyes. "Master Li, I am not sure if I am fully prepared to be able to teach-"

"My child, there comes a time in every student's life where he must be ready to take what he's learn and teach it to others," said Master Li. "Sometimes the best teacher is within. I trust you will learn much about yourself and your art through this experience."

Wu stood still for a moment, taking in this new information. She then bowed. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Master."

Jing Woo did not want to speak at first; he was not entirely clear about the etiquette involved with speaking with Master Li. Wu obviously held a high enough rank in the school to be less formal with him than Jing Woo would otherwise expect, but he had to know.

"Master Li, if I may," he began slowly, hesitantly, and when Master Li made no sharp, scolding remark at him and Wu did not glare at him, he continued. "Why me?"

"You are the newest student and with little other experience," he said. "Plus, you are of the right age."

"Right age… for what?"

"It is more of a lesson for Wu than it is for you," he replied. "An older student will be more difficult to teach than a younger student, and it will test Wu's patience."

Wu smiled for the first time since entering Master Li's house. "Are you encouraging him to be as difficult as possible?"

"That is Jing Woo's own prerogative. His ability to learn is just as dependent on his attitude as it is his previous experience and talents. You may go."

Wu bowed, and Jing Woo followed suit. "Thank you once again, Master Li," she said.

When the two left the house, they stood outside underneath the rooftop. Wu turned to Jing Woo, and the spark that he had seen in her eyes earlier was gone. Her smile was vanished once more, and Jing Woo wanted nothing more than to apologize but he did not know yet what for.

"I guess that means I'm your teacher now. Or your mentor," she said. "I guess you got what you wanted. Go see Smiling Mountain, and he'll direct you to your room. I will see you in the morning, bright and early, rain or shine."

Jing Woo nodded. He knew not what else to say. She pointed in the direction where he could find Smiling Mountain, and then ran off before Jing Woo could figure out how to form the correct words to find out how he had offended Wu earlier, without offending her some more. He hoped that whatever he said, it would not affect too harshly on the training she would offer him later.

* * *

Jing Woo nearly forgot where he was when the blinding rays of sunshine penetrated through his windows and onto his face. He groaned and flipped over to bury his face in the pillow. It was only after a gong resounded beyond the walls did he remember that he was no longer hiding in an empty room in an inn or tavern in his wanderings, and he shot out of bed in a hurry to pull on his leggings.

Smiling Mountain had warned him that if he did not wake before the gong, there would be little breakfast left. Many students began to set their internal clocks to beat the bell and get first grabs; those who did not possess the skill to control how long they slept often wound up with the less ideal meal, or the more likely event, little to no breakfast. There was no rule against this, Smiling Mountain explained. Some students have shown they perform better without the weight of a morning meal. Mostly, it was good exposure to the Way of the Closed Fist-the "weaker" students must learn how to make do. The world, after all, did not completely follow the high path.

Jing Woo ran out the door still pulling on his shirt and vest, hoping in vain that Smiling Mountain's warning about breakfast was unfounded. Even when homeless, Jing Woo always managed to get breakfast somehow, and honestly. Alas, when he finally made it to the common area, most of the students were already filled with their meals and there were only scraps of food left.

Jing Woo sighed. So much for a good first day. He picked up what was left, knowing that anything was better than nothing in order to not let Master Li or Smiling Mountain or any of the other teachers down.

He took a glance around the common area; he recognized no one. He wondered where the two girls from yesterday were, but then decided that it would probably be best if he did not get too friendly with one of his teachers. There were no empty tables left, either, but he did not have to linger too long before a girl with her hair in randomly placed knots waved him over.

He smiled weakly. Things were starting to look up, after all. He took the seat next to her. She seemed cheerful enough; her other companions at the table, on the other hand, barely looked at him, but he paid no mind to them.

"You're new here, aren't you?" she said. "I'm Kia Min. I've been here for a few months already. I know what it's like to be the 'new kid' more than the others around here, so if you have any questions, consider me your gal."

"Thank you," he said.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. Almost everyone here is pretty friendly. Even Master Li. He can be harsh, but he really does care about all of us. So, where are you from? Originally." Jing Woo hesitated. Kia Min quickly laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. I know a few students have come here under less than happy circumstances."

"No, it's okay," he said. "I just didn't know how best to answer that question. I wandered around a lot, but where I spent the majority of my childhood and where I was born was around Tien's Landing."

"You wandered? Why?"

Jing Woo shuddered. " _That_ I'd rather not talk about."

Kia Min shrugged. "Fair enough. Come on, hurry up and eat. We don't want to be late for Smiling Mountain's class. He's nice, but he doesn't tolerate tardiness. I don't want to spend my lunch scrubbing pots and bowls."

Jing Woo was blown away during Smiling Mountain's classes that morning. For a martial arts school, he was expecting to go into some physical training (only to be taken away by Wu later for the basics Master Li told her to teach him) first thing, but Smiling Mountain instead taught philosophy and history underneath the trees by the sparring grounds. Jing Woo listened intently; Smiling Mountain had discussed little philosophy with him the night before while showing him to his room, but he hadn't gone into detail.

Before Smiling Mountain began the history lessons, he let the students have a break. The children to let loose some energy, and the adolescents to chat and refresh themselves. While Kia Min was talking to him about how she came to the school, Jing Woo saw Wu approach Smiling Mountain with Dawn Star at her side. Some of the other adolescents began speaking in hushed tones.

Jing Woo turned to Kia Min, and the wrinkles in his forehead must have asked the question for him. "They are Master Li's favored students," she said. "Both of them are very skilled, but Wu's skills-the one with the untamed hair-put her above even the senior students."

"Really?"

"I'd rather not speak about them too much," she said. "I hate gossip, and I hate gossipers, but if you really want to know more, I could introduce you to Lin during lunch. You could try to talk to them yourself, but Dawn Star is very… distant. She's kind, but you probably won't learn anything about her from her. Wu won't speak up about herself, either, but she's more approachable at least. Don't be surprised if she learns more about you than you do about her, though." Kia Min shook her head. "I've said more than I wanted to. Let's talk about something else."

Jing Woo frowned. "Excuse me, Kia Min, but I need to speak to Wu real quick."

"What?"

"I'll explain later." He picked himself off from the ground and grabbed Wu's arm as she walked away from Smiling Mountain. He duly noted the sudden hushed gasp among the other students as Wu turned to face him, her face bewildered.

Jing Woo didn't know what he was going to say. He had all night to think about it, but he still couldn't figure out anything about what had happened. He did know that he had to apologize if he was going to learn from her, even though he hadn't figured out what he had said or done.

"I wanted to apologize for yesterday…"

"Apologize? For what?"

Jing Woo bit his lip and now regretted this bold move that would soon make him the talk of the students. Not because of the gossip and rumors that would ensue, but because he remembered why he never apologized unless he knew what he was apologizing for.

"I… I don't know," he said. "But yesterday, after we raced, something changed. You seemed very… spirited, and then I must have done or said something because then you weren't anymore. Whatever I said or did, I'm sorry."

Wu didn't say anything at first, and instead just stared at him, wide-eyed and confused. Dawn Star beside her, Jing Woo noticed, wore a strange, small smile, which only served to make the situation even more bewildering for him. He vowed that next time he did something this drastic, he was going to think it through more.

"It's… it's all right," Wu finally said meekly. "I guess." Then she grinned that familiar grin that Jing Woo first saw when he met her. "I have you after lunch, to train. Meet me in the garden. Don't be late!"

Wu and Dawn Star wandered off, and Jing Woo turned back to his fellow students who were all watching him. He couldn't tell if they were appalled or awed by his actions, but he knew he did something that nobody else ever dared to do. Jing Woo offered a meek smile to the others and then quietly reclaimed his seat next to Kia Min, who turned to him in unmistakable awe.

"When I said that Wu was more approachable, I didn't mean that anybody actually approaches her!" she exclaimed. "You have some guts, Jing Woo. It's actually kind of impressive, and refreshing."

"Thanks?"

"I mean it. But you should be careful. This is bound to spur on some… interesting rumors. Nothing too harmful, I hope, but it's no secret that Wu the Lotus Blossom is training you herself. That is causing a lot of jealousy for both her and you. Imagine the things people could start to come up with from there, especially after that display."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, though he wasn't sure how true to that promise he would be. Gossip and rumors barely interested him to begin with. He doubted that his opinion on the matter would change even if the gossip and rumors were about him.

Kia Min helped Jing Woo make up for his overlook at breakfast, and at lunch she had him by the sleeve and pushed him into the common area, where he found himself the first one to grab food. She said that it would not do him any good if he attended his first training session with Master Li's protégé without the best food in his stomach. He did not see how the quality of food he had in his stomach would affect him in his afternoon training session, but he was thankful that Kia Min was being so helpful.

If the other students had been shy around him at breakfast time, they must have been outright afraid of him during lunch. Jing Woo and Kia Min shared a table by themselves, and Kia Min scoffed.

"It seems like the rumors and gossip have started already," she said. She sighed. "And it seems like I'm going to be caught in the middle of them."

Jing Woo cringed. "I'm sorry."

Kia Min laughed. "Don't be. Words mean nothing. In the end, skill and discipline are the only things that will matter, and how I treat others despite what they think my motives are. Wu and Dawn Star are kind enough that they only warrant timidity and respect from everyone, and I guess fear, too, but not in the bad way. I would like to be like that someday, except more able to call the other students friends than they can. You know, fear the day that they'd have to spar me but not fear me otherwise."

"They aren't friends with the other students?"

"They're nice to us, and we respect them, but that doesn't mean that we'd call each other friends," said Kia Min. "Dawn Star isolates herself too much, and Wu knows how much the other students either are jealous of her or places her on her a pedestal. I would like to try to break that mold and comfortably call them friends, but I haven't the courage like you do to actually do it yet." She laughed. "Of course, I bet you don't know why Dawn Star isolates herself, and I bet you haven't seen Wu in a sparring match yet. That's why you still have the courage at all."

Kia Min wouldn't say anymore on the subject of the two girls after that. She feared she had broken her "no gossiping" rule, even though she knew it was difficult not to when it came down to Wu and Dawn Star. Jing Woo did not mind, though; he knew that if he would be training under Wu, he would learn enough.

He finished eating his lunch quickly and found himself in the garden a good long time before he was told to be there. He did not mind, though; he was able to marvel at the beauty of the place while he was there. He was right: in the sunlight, the garden was a piece of heaven itself. Birds chirped in the gently swaying trees, and the ripples of the stream calmed him. The gentle chug of the mill provided rhythm-it was as though in the sunlight, the garden's purpose was soul-soothing music. He stood at the bridge, his arms crossed atop the red fence, and closed his eyes. He could stay here forever.

"You're here awfully early."

Jing Woo jumped and spun around. There was Dawn Star, gently smiling.

"I'm sorry if I startled you. Wu is with Master Li right now, but she will be here shortly."

He bowed. "Thank you. I'm sorry if I'm intruding by being here…"

"No, it's fine. Wu told you to come here, and you are here. Early or on time would not matter to her, so it does not matter to me. Besides, I love having visitors here."

"The garden is your area?"

"That's what the other students believe, so they rarely come here, and I'm usually the only one especially if Wu is training. Even during her free time she enjoys to spar. Please know that you are always welcome here in the garden; it is not exclusively my private area, though sometimes I am glad that the other students treat it as such."

"Thank you," said Jing Woo. "It's very beautiful here, and quiet."

Dawn Star nodded. "That's why I love it here. The rest of the school can be quite rowdy compared to here, and I prefer the peace and quiet. Anyway, I'm glad that I caught you before Wu got here. I wanted to talk to you."

"Talk to me? About what?"

"I wanted to know more about you, but I suppose I'll find that out later. We don't have time for that now, but I did want to tell you that you should not be afraid of being yourself around Wu. It's what she likes about you."

"What do you mean?"

"You're the only one who has ever approached her without stammering to relay a message to her or harassing her," said Dawn Star. "Even yesterday, Wu told me that when you wished to treat her as a superior, you were unwavering. She was disappointed because she had hoped that you would see her as an equal-she has that hope for all new students, especially ones her age-but after your display this morning, you've really placed yourself in her favor. Don't go back. Just… be yourself."

Jing Woo realized then what he had said before that had offended Wu so much that it seemed like her personality completely shifted. Now he knew what he had to apologize for, but he had already extended his apologies and he knew he would be foolish to do it again. He bowed and thanked Dawn Star, just in time for Wu to come running up to the garden.

"Sorry I'm late," she said. She looked between the two of them and smiled. "I trust you two had a good conversation?"

Dawn Star and Jing Woo stared at each other, and Dawn Star smiled and nodded. "Yes, we did," she said.

"Good!" said Wu. "Oh, and Dawn Star, Master Li told me to send for you. He said it was important."

Dawn Star took her leave, and Jing Woo found himself alone with Wu. She turned to him and wasted no time in offering to spar with her.

"What? Why so soon? I barely know anything of Master Li's style-"

"I just want to get a good gauge of where you stand and what's similar with your freestyle and what I need to have you relearn completely," she said. "Some of the older students are in the sparring ring, and Smiling Mountain is using his grounds to teach the younger students. So we'll spar here."

Jing Woo knew that regardless of his opinion, he had no choice in the matter. Besides, as far as he could possibly know, Master Li might have requested that Wu did this. They walked to the small clearing in front of the little house. Wu quickly tied her hair back in a loose ponytail and took to a fighting stance.

As soon as Jing Woo moved into position, Wu delivered a swift kick to his stomach, and he found himself crouching on the ground holding where she landed the blow.

Wu pouted. "At least try to fight back. That's the point of this."

"You… you caught me off guard!" he exclaimed.

"You said that yesterday. I hope that won't be your excuse every time you get beat by a girl. Or a boy, for that matter," she said. "Besides, do you think your opponent will care if you're ready to fight or not?"

Jing Woo frowned. She made a good point-what if he was ambushed some day in the far future? That kind of excuse would get him killed. He, however, did not want to admit that she was right. Not yet. Not until he could land one or two blows, or at least be given the opportunity to attack.

"Let's do it again," he said. She smiled.

"Now that's what I wanted to hear!"

It took him two or three more times before he could even put Wu on the defensive for a split second, but as soon as he did, Wu called the sparring session to a close and decided it was time for her to start teaching him.

The way she taught was not something that Jing Woo expected. He expected a lesson in the same manner that he would expect from Master Li, or a typical, more experienced student, but Wu sprinkled her lessons in jokes and questions about Jing Woo. He found himself laughing throughout the lesson, and if not laughing, then talking about himself, and before he knew it, the gong rang signaling the beginning of the dinner hour.

Jing Woo stopped in the middle of one of the basics routines that Wu had him going over. "That was quick," he said.

Wu grinned. "It sure was. Fastest four hours of my life. Well, hurry to dinner then. I think Master Li would want to see you as soon as you're done eating, just to make sure I'm on the right track with you."

"Will you not join me?"

Wu was taken aback. Jing Woo almost regretted what he said-he had done it without thinking it through, at all-but then he remembered what Dawn Star had advised him before the start of the session. He took in a deep breath and held his ground. He could not risk offending her again, not in the same way.

"I haven't seen you eating with the other students. I know I've only been around for a couple of meals, but you and Dawn Star are never around then. Come eat with me, and Kia Min, too?"

"Well…" Wu started. "I'd rather not. Dawn Star and I eat together here in the garden. The other students aren't so kind to her, and I'd hate for her to have to eat alone."

Jing Woo frowned. "That's not what Kia Min told me."

"I know a little bit about Kia Min," said Wu. "She doesn't associate herself with many of the different crowds who would speak ill of Dawn Star. She's well-liked among the other students, but she doesn't feel the same for everyone else."

"She did say she hates gossipers."

Wu smiled. "Exactly. No, I won't join you. I won't leave Dawn Star alone. Thank you for the invitation, though."

"Why doesn't she come with us?"

"You weren't listening, were you?"

Jing Woo fell silent. Kia Min had said that Dawn Star kept to herself but had no interest in explaining to Jing Woo why. Now Wu was telling him that she was not well-liked by the other students like Kia Min had implied, even though Dawn Star was clearly nothing else but kind to everyone she met. Jing Woo was puzzled. He knew he was missing something but he could not figure out what.

He was astounded by Wu from the moment he met her, but now he was curious about Dawn Star. He would not let go of this so easily.

"Then I'll come join you two," he said. "If you don't mind."

Wu blinked and seemed to have stopped breathing for a second. "You…" she started softly. She shook her head. "People say this of me all the time, and I never thought I'd say it to someone else… but you're… different." She grinned. "In a good way, of course. No. You shouldn't. You're new here, and you should get to know your fellow students. I'd hate for you to be an outcast like me or Dawn Star."

"But-"

"We'll be fine, trust me," she said. "Thank you. You better go before all the food is gone. Dinner is the most popular meal around here." Jing Woo hesitated, and Wu laughed. "Go on! I'll see you at the same time tomorrow."

Jing Woo took his time leaving the garden, occasionally looking back to see Wu still watching him exit until he could not see the bridge and mill anymore. He stopped in front of the gates into the main area of the school and put a hand to his forehead. He could not figure out why he felt so terrible suddenly. Wu's demeanor didn't completely transform on him again; she only turned down an invitation. She made it sound like it was for his own good, but he could not understand why. Kia Min would likely not talk to him anymore about the two top students; he knew she was already berating herself for saying what she had.

And if the rest of the students really were as petty as Wu implied, why would she want him to befriend them all? Of course, Kia Min did say that she, like Dawn Star, were very friendly to everybody, but Jing Woo knew that he was one of the very few who she showed her more human side to.

There was something else going on at the school, and he knew he would not be satisfied until he knew what it was.


	2. Kia Min

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief look at Kia Min's friendship with Jing Woo and the farmer boy Ni Joh.

The last time she saw her uncle Jong her older brother picked up a long stick from the woods behind their home, handed it to her, and taught her how to fight. Jong had left without saying a word to her, and she was much too young for anyone to tell her why he had left, and the family was much too honest to sugar-coat an answer to her questions. All she remembered was that her brother saw fit to start teaching her how to defend herself that day, a skill that came in handy a few years later when a gang of thugs tried to rob her father of his goods and silver. Her mother thought it best that she started learning combat from a real master after that, and a month later she found herself on a boat headed south for Two Rivers.

She remembered her first match on her first day, but little of anything else during that first year. It had been in the afternoon, and one of the other students had approached her with a smile and untamed hair and an offer to spar. Because it had been her first day, she had yet to begin formal weapons training, and her brother had never bothered teaching her any martial styles. The match, therefore, had been embarrassingly short-lived.

How fitting, then, that on the afternoon of her first anniversary of attending Two Rivers School, she should be facing that same student again.

The two opponents circled each other slowly, both locking their eyes upon each other intently. It had been some time since they last sparred, and Kia Min had a weapon now; this would be nothing like the first time they fought each other.

Finally, her opponent leaped into the air and landed smoothly behind her. She quickly spun, but not before her opponent landed a few kicks to her torso. Kia Min tightened her grip on her staff and swung and jabbed and swung again, and the match had begun.

A handful of students assembled around the sparring ring, as they usually did whenever a bout took place there and they were not supposed to be focused on their own matches or meditations. Since the senior students graduated, not many interesting fights occurred anymore; the only fighter worth watching rarely met her match and always, always won now. Still, when she fought, they gathered, and so they gathered that afternoon.

Kia Min knew that the long reach of the staff was the only reason why she could land any blows upon Wu at all, and so the impressed gasps of the crowding students barely fazed her as Wu hopped back to catch her breath momentarily. Kia Min pulled back briefly as well, readying herself for the imminent retaliation.

Wu grinned and charged forward. Though Kia Min tried to fend off the blows to her gut as best as she could, she quickly found her back attached to the floor with a panting, smiling Wu looking down upon her.

"You've improved a lot this past year," she said, extending a hand to her. Kia Min grabbed it, and Wu pulled her up to her feet.

Kia Min laughed sheepishly, and the two ceremoniously bowed to each other. "Thanks. I'm only glad I kept up with you for as long as I did."

The crowd thinned around them as the other students retreated to their meditations and more private bouts. Wu motioned to leave the ring in case others wanted to use it; sure enough, as the two girls exited, two others hesitantly ambled in. Kia Min held back a giggle at their diffidence. She understood from experience—it never was easy sparring in the ring after Wu the Lotus Blossom finished a match. Even if nobody was watching, and rarely anybody was, each combatant felt obligated to live up to her skill to the best of his ability. Only a small handful of students truly understood the benefit of this, and those who did understand benefited more than those who did not.

Jing Woo approached the girls as the two other students in the ring began their match. He wore a warm, carefree smile, a smile that took a while to show itself in the school, but after a few private training sessions with Wu had become his signature. "That was impressive," he said. "Imagine, Wu, getting _hit_ for a change!"

"Oh, says the boy I can still catch off guard every other match?" said Wu with an easy smirk. She turned to Kia Min. "It shouldn't be that surprising. Kia Min is a natural."

Kia Min blushed. She had heard that compliment many times before from her brother, and many times she teased him for fawning over his little sister too much. But now from Master Li's favored student… well, she knew better than to take the compliment for granted.

"Thank you for your kind words," she said with an appreciative bow. "But I think it'll take more than a few more seasons before I can match you. Anyway, I should get back to training. Thank you for sparring with me."

"Before you do," said Jing Woo, "I have a small favor to ask from you."

Wu placed a hand over her mouth and stifled a snicker. Kia Min frowned. "What is it?"

Jing Woo laughed and scratched his head uncomfortably. "Well, I had a bit of an incident yesterday while running a couple of errands. It's nothing big, but, I need you to take this to Merchant Fen Do if you could."

He handed her a small leather bag heavy with what could only be a few pieces of silver. Kia Min raised an eyebrow. "An incident? With Merchant Fen Do? Did you con him out of some 'hard-earned' money again?"

"'Again?' You say that as if I do it all the time!" Jing Woo argued, but when Wu only laughed harder and Kia Min did not back down, he sighed. "Fine, but I did nothing worse than I usually try to do. He was just in a particularly bad mood yesterday and… well… look. I feel bad, but I'm sure he wouldn't accept this silver if I gave it to him myself. It's a simple errand, and I'll make it up to you later, I promise."

Kia Min shook her head. "Oh, Jing Woo, you've only been here for a few weeks and you're already establishing a very interesting reputation for yourself."

"I like to think of myself as a good negotiator. It's something I had to get good at fast to survive honestly."

"You know, many merchants would see that as being only one step above being a common thief," said Kia Min, remembering how her father and uncle often saw customers who would try to barter down prices. 'Swindlers' was putting it nicely. Yet, she smiled, because despite how Jing Woo had to live before, he still managed to turn out to be a good person. "Fine, I'll do it. But you owe me the story later."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll hear it from Fen Do first, but it's a deal," he said. "Let me know if he says anything about why he was in such a sour mood yesterday. Make sure you send him my apologies, too."

Kia Min laughed. "Of course. You two have fun training."

Wu grinned, her laughter having died down but amusement still flashing in her eyes. "We always do." She motioned for Jing Woo to follow her, and the two walked off, laughing and joking as they always seemed to in each other's presence.

Kia Min headed for the gates of the school, reflecting on the past few weeks since Jing Woo came to the school. As she had feared, rumors quickly spread of all different variations of absurdity about the boy, but thankfully Lin was nosy enough that the rumors became less radical within a few days. What did not help, however, was Wu. Before Jing Woo had arrived she had been more distant. Kind, and always smiling and asking questions and wanting to get to know the other students, but distant. That was the student who had asked Kia Min to spar with her on her first day, but the student who had asked Kia Min to spar this time was more open, laughed more, and smiled more. Beyond anything else, the rumors that remained about the 'new kid' were because of her.

Jing Woo was not deaf, and he had heard these rumors, but he did not seem to care. If nothing else, he seemed amused by what he did hear, but he never said nor did anything to further speculation any. Therefore, Kia Min's annoyance with the rumors often ended short of rolling her eyes whenever one came across her ears.

When Kia Min came to the main square of the small village, she noticed Fen Do at his usual corner by the gate to the beach, vainly waving down customers to sell his goods to. She smiled; she had grown up in a bigger town, where being the only merchant family in town would have been a great inconvenience opposite of Fen Do's problem. A small village full of farmers warranted little business—he should be fortunate that he was the only merchant in Two Rivers.

Fen Do quickly noticed Kia Min approaching, and he grinned a wide grin and said, "Well, now! I guess you students running errands for your master are the only constant source of income I can count on anymore! What can I do for you?"

"Good day, Merchant Fen Do," said Kia Min as she handed him the small pouch of silver. "My friend wanted me to give you this, with his apologies for yesterday."

Fen Do frowned as he took the pouch. "Yesterday? What? Oh!" His eyes widened, and he shook his head in exasperation. "Well, uh, I guess I was being more than a little short with the poor kid yesterday. Can't blame him for trying to get me to cut down my prices, you know? You'd just never hear of urchins here in Two Rivers."

Kia Min grinned. That was a term for her good friend she had never heard before. "Well, he's hardly an 'urchin' now, wouldn't you say?"

"True, and I suppose a bartering student is better than a mad hermit from the swamp any day."

"What?"

Fen Do quickly shook his head. "It's nothing. I just had a… well, I'm not sure if difficult is the proper term for it, but there was a customer yesterday… well, never mind. Forget I said anything. Your friend just caught me at a bad time, and up to his usual tricks, too, which are a constant annoyance on my part. I'm just afraid the other students and villagers are going to catch onto his schemes. What's a poor merchant to do in that case? I can't give discounts to anybody with a bronze tongue! Anyway, tell your friend I'm sorry for the cross words I said to him yesterday, and that he's still always welcome to buy from me anytime, so long as he quits trying to convince me to cut my prices for him."

Kia Min bowed to Fen Do, grinning as she conjured up the possible disagreement the merchant and Jing Woo could have possibly had. Luckily, she would be able to hear the full story from him later, likely at dinner, so with a quick farewell to Fen Do she turned on her heel to return to the school.

She took not three steps before she was shoved forward by a bump on her back. She turned, surprised and annoyed, and saw a boy wearing white farmer garments nearly planting his face into the stone floor. He caught himself clumsily and wasted no time in bowing to Kia Min sheepishly with a stuttering apology.

"I'm… I'm sorry! I'm in a rush and wasn't looking where I was going—"

"No, it's fine," said Kia Min. She wasn't accustomed to people trying to explain themselves in such a desperate manner; a simple apology would have sufficed. It always had in the past. "You should probably go back to what you were doing, though."

"Yes, of course," said the boy, but when he stood to look her in the eye, his panicky demeanor faded. "Hey, you're a student at the school here, aren't you?"

Kia Min frowned. Surely she wasn't the first student the boy had ever seen! "Well… yes."

"Do you… well… do you happen to know… how I could possibly become a student there, too?" he asked. "I mean, I'll follow my father's footsteps like I'm supposed to and inherit the farm, but I would like to learn how to fight, you know, on the side."

She chuckled under her breath. That was an unusual request. "I'm sorry, but I don't think Master Li would accept someone who would only be a part-time student. Why are you interested, anyway? Two Rivers is peaceful enough that you shouldn't have to worry so much about bandits and thieves if you don't aspire to be something other than a farmer."

"I know most of the students don't come from Two Rivers at all," said the boy, "but, well, you never know, you know? It's peaceful enough around here, true, but you can never be too prepared."

Kia Min smiled. Perhaps that had been her brother's reasoning when he decided to teach her how to fight. "I suppose so. But our school is a serious school. There is no casual learning there."

The boy sighed dejectedly. "Well, I guess. I figured. Thank you, anyway, and sorry again for running into you."

He started to walk away, and Kia Min could not help but to feel for the boy. Perhaps he was trapped into remaining a farmer for the rest of his life? But it did not matter; if Master Li wanted to accept part-time students there would be more students in attendance, and Wu would not have been the first—and only—student to teach others. Kia Min remembered her father telling her when she was little that one must accept the station they must fill, and that they should never try to fight it.

But was this boy trying to fight his station, or was this his way of accepting it somehow?

"Hey, um, wait," Kia Min called out to the boy. He stopped in his tracks, less hurried than he was before. "I don't know if it's allowed or anything, and I would not be so presumptuous to find out, but maybe I could help you."

"Help?" The boy looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't think I could teach you. I'm nowhere near that level yet, and I could not dare to be that audacious, but… I don't know. For what it's worth, maybe I could do some of my meditations and training out here, for you to watch, at least. See what you can pick up."

The boy smiled. "Really? That would be… that would be more than enough! But are you allowed to do that outside of the school grounds?"

"Master Li gives us free time every now and then to do with as we see fit," said Kia Min. "I'll just use that time out here."

"I… don't want you to use your free time like that on my behalf…"

Kia Min chuckled. "I spend it training and meditating anyway. Most of the students do. It won't be a bother, I promise you, and it'll be good to get outside of the school gates for more than just errands to Fen Do or Gujin."

"That's… that's great, thank you so much!"

Kia Min was not completely sure if Master Li would approve of this, for one reason or another. She was not completely certain if she should even be doing this, but something in that boy's voice, in his bright eyes and excited smile, told Kia Min that despite the consequences, this was not something she would regret anytime soon.

"Well, I have some time tomorrow morning, if you want to meet me by the outlook," she said. "Can you usually hear the school's gong out here?" The boy nodded. "Great, so, wait for about an hour after it rings, and I'll meet you there."

"Thank you again," said the boy as he bowed. "And I'm sorry, but I did not catch your name."

"It's Kia Min. And you are…?"

"Ni Joh. Anyway, I have to get going. I think my father is going to have my head if I'm any later. I will see you there, by the outlook, tomorrow?"

Kia Min grinned. "Count on it."

* * *

Jing Woo was late to dinner again. Kia Min quickly snuck an extra bowl of rice for her friend and made her way towards an empty table. She had become more adept at this task than she wanted to admit to herself; every single day, if Jing Woo had a private training session with Wu right before a meal, he would not show his face around the common area until well after the food was gone. The reasons behind this were probably simple enough, but like many other things at this school under the scrutiny of the other students, this simple act only seemed to "prove" the rumors surrounding Jing Woo's training under Wu "true."

How, then, did Kia Min fit in? She cared not to find out; all she knew was that her name was often spoken in regards to those rumors. What she did hear, however, either entertained her or annoyed her enough. She needed no further distractions than that.

She noticed Jing Woo enter the common area then, and she waved him over, as she always did. She placed the extra bowl of rice in front of him as he sat down across from her and grinned. "I swear, Jing Woo, if I liked you less you'd starve half your day away."

Jing Woo chuckled. "Lucky for me, then, that you like me just enough so that I don't. Did you get the silver to Fen Do?"

"Of course, though he really didn't tell me anything about your confrontation with him yesterday. You owe me that, remember?"

"What did he say?"

"Well, first of all, he said he wanted to apologize for his cross words yesterday, and he still wants you to buy from him, probably because you're the one who buys from him the most frequently," she said. "Just… don't haggle with him anymore."

"Oh, come on, Kia Min, you know his prices are pretty high. I'm surprised you don't do it, too. You'd be good at it, considering that you come from a similar background as he does."

Kia Min sighed. "He's the only merchant in town; he doesn't need to compete like merchants have to in other villages. If any other merchant in the world had that luxury, they would do the same, have their prices higher than normal. Anyway, he said that he was a little short with you yesterday because of some customer who bought from him just before you, or something like that. He didn't go into much detail other than that, though."

Jing Woo frowned. "A customer?" he said softly. "I wonder if he meant… no, never mind."

"Do you know this other customer?" asked Kia Min. Should someone like that be so familiar to the student who had shown up at the school only a few fortnights ago?

"There was this strange man who was leaving as I arrived," said Jing Woo, "someone who is obviously not from around here. Yeah, that would make sense, I guess, why Fen Do would have been short-tempered with me yesterday. I was doing nothing more or less than I normally do when I barter with him, and he said some things, I said some things. It's not that interesting of a story, really. But thank you, anyway, for doing that for me."

"I'm almost beginning to think I do too much for you."

"Well, let me know when you're convinced of it so I can prepare for the consequences," said Jing Woo, grinning. "Oh, and Wu wanted me to ask you if tomorrow morning you'd be interested in doing a little training with us. That probably means she wants to spar with you some more; she was really inspired after your match this afternoon. I have more bruises now than I know what to do with."

Kia Min brightly smiled. Well, that was a rare request! "Really? That would be, well, an honor!" Then she remembered the poor farmer boy from that afternoon, and she sighed. "But, unfortunately, tomorrow morning won't work."

"What? Why not?"

"Well… I kind of promised someone else I'd train with them in the morning. It's not something I can back out of."

"Who else? Invite them along; I'm sure Wu wouldn't mind."

Kia Min hesitated. She was not sure if her agreement with Ni Joh was something she wanted to share openly, and with how quickly rumors spread amongst the students, she was not sure if she was willing to face the consequences should Master Li not approve. She knew she would have to eventually, but so soon? Of course, Jing Woo was not likely to tell anybody else, especially if Kia Min requested he did not. The only two people he would dream of telling were Wu and Dawn Star otherwise, and those two were safe, despite their closeness with their master.

"It's not with a student," she finally said, slowly. Jing Woo looked puzzled, and Kia Min sighed and told him about Ni Joh.

For a moment after she finished, Jing Woo stared at her, his expression unreadable. Then he laughed, and he laughed so hard the other students in the common area cautiously glanced over their shoulders at the pair.

Kia Min cringed, glared, and pointed her chopsticks at him. "Keep it down!" she hissed. "This is not something I want the entire school to even start to speculate about. And I don't even know what's so funny about it!"

"You don't?" Jing Woo coughed to stop his laughter, but his eyes showed endless delight. "But there is so much that is amusing about this. But, alright, fine, I'll let Wu know that she'll have to find another time to spar with you again. She'll be disappointed, I'm sure. What should I tell her, then, that you've promised to help out someone else or something?" Kia Min did not respond, and instead gave him a baffled look. "Oh, come on, do you really think that this is something I'm going to blab my mouth about? If you want Wu to know, you can tell her yourself. I know that's how you like things to be done, anyway."

Kia Min grinned and shrugged. "Yes, that is true," she said. "Thank you."

"I won't lie, just so you know. You know me."

"Of course, and I would never ask you to."

With that the two friends finished their dinner and sauntered off to their final lessons for the day with Smiling Mountain. Kia Min often thought it strange that the schedule of the school did not remain consistent day after day; sometimes these lessons were in the morning or in the afternoon, but rarely in the evening. She had asked Smiling Mountain once about why each day's schedule differed from the other, and his answer was simple and filled with philosophical intent. The only constant in life, he had said, was change. Besides, he had pointed out shortly thereafter, wouldn't she tire of the monotony?

The lesson he taught in the evening was very simple and short, and he set the students up to spar for the rest of the time before the sun set. Jing Woo was still a curiosity for many of the students, and so, whether or not anybody wanted to admit it, when Smiling Mountain had him spar against the younger students everyone else watched. Wu and Dawn Star crept through the crowd during this, both eager to see how he would fare in his matches.

Smiling Mountain did not have him spar for long, but he won every single match. Kia Min noticed Wu smiling with great pride, and both she and Dawn Star greeted him as he exited the ring enthusiastically. Smiling Mountain cycled through the rest of the students accordingly, and Kia Min found herself up against a few of the younger students herself. She was successfully victorious in all of them, though from the sounds of the onlookers it was nothing surprising. As she exited the ring, she laughed softly to herself; did her bout against Wu earlier in the afternoon set this precedence?

After breakfast the next morning, Jing Woo and Kia Min separated with Jing Woo giving her one last quip about the situation she was in. She rolled her eyes and made her way to the school gate. As she did, panic and regret slowly seeped in. What if this was a big mistake? She would be making a complete fool of herself! What on earth was she thinking anyway?

Oh, that's right, she scolded herself. She really wasn't thinking after all.

Not to mention that in order to do this she was passing up an opportunity to train with Master Li's protégé, the top student of the school! Her parents did not send her here to indulge in impulsive decisions but instead opportunities such as the one Wu was offering! But a promise was a promise, and she hoped that the morning would go poorly enough that she would not have to keep making these trips out, and she could spend her free time better sparring against Wu.

She found Ni Joh right where they had promised to meet, with the calm rippling of the river down the hill begging Kia Min to relax about the whole thing. She sighed. It was time.

"Oh, there you are!" said Ni Joh, waving his hand with a bright and sheepish smile as she approached. "I was worried that you might have forgotten or changed your mind."

Kia Min found that she had to smile at the boy's relief. "No, I couldn't call myself a student of Master Li if I had, now could I?"

"Well, everyone has their forgetful moments, or their changes of heart, from time to time," he said. He shyly laughed. "Some more than others, I have to admit."

Kia Min frowned. "'Some more than…' are you saying you've changed _your_ mind?" Though convenient as that would be, and not entirely surprising, she could not help but to feel a little disappointed. Maybe it was because of the unnecessary fretting, and the now-superfluous teasing from Jing Woo, or perhaps the further taunts she would have to endure.

Ni Joh waved his hands frantically and shook his head. "No, no, that's not it at all! I was just… saying things, I guess. Anyway, I guess… we should get started?"

"Of course," said Kia Min, though she was unsure of how to go about 'getting things started.' She had only done this once before, when she first started at the school and Master Li went over the personal everyday meditations she should undertake to hone her strengths and realize her weaknesses. That had been awkward enough since she had never done anything like it before, but the kind master found a way to make her feel at home after a few moments of hesitation on her part. Now, within the school, she could practice her meditations easily anywhere, but outside the school was well outside her comfort zone. The questions arose within her again: what on earth was she thinking?

And so, she stood at the outlook with this farmer boy she had only met yesterday, unable to move a muscle to begin her meditations. Great. This was not the time for this kind of humility to kick in, if ever.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Though she had hoped that the whole idea would not go well, she never expected something like this to go wrong. She knew that if she had to do an exhibition for the townsfolk, she would do it with ease and without the stage fright. So why, with this farmer boy, was she having such a hard time getting started? Was it perhaps of the scrutiny? But he would have no idea what she was doing wrong if she was doing something wrong, and he certainly would not dare to call her out on it!

"I'm sorry," said Kia Min finally. "I did not expect this to be so… awkward."

Ni Joh seemed perplexed for a brief instant. "What?" Then he shook his head quickly. "Oh, no, not at all…"

In spite of herself, Kia Min smiled. "You didn't hear what I said, did you?"

"Uh, well, no, it's not that, but… I was just wondering… about your hair…"

Well, that was an unexpected comment. Kia Min softly touched one of the buns on her head. "What about it?"

"Well, I'd just never seen anybody style their hair like that before," he said. "Does it take long to do, everyday? And do you do it like that everyday?" He cringed as soon as he said it. "Ugh, no, that's not what I meant to say… I mean…"

Kia Min giggled. "You know, bashfulness is never going to get you anywhere," she said. "No, this doesn't take long to do at all since I do it like this everyday, ever since coming to this school. It's easier to get homesick if you left a happy home behind, I guess. My mother wears it like this all the time. It's just a piece of home I can carry with me always."

"I see," Ni Joh said slowly. "I guess it would be hard, being very far away from your family and friends. I couldn't imagine it. I guess I'm too much the son of a farmer to ever dream of leaving home."

"I never thought I would, either," said Kia Min. "But I never denied the possibility, either. It was a bit of a shock coming here to Two Rivers, though, since I came from a bigger town. Busier, and more lively, and fighting was something that shopkeepers and merchants had to be good at so that we could keep our goods safe. That's why I started learning, I think, even though we did not have to suffer many bandits and thieves. There was the occasional shoplifter, but they were often harmless kids playing dares on each other. They learned their lesson after my mother gave them a firm slap on the wrist and threatened to tell _their_ mothers. My father and uncle always thought they deserved a harsher punishment, but neither dared to argue with her. She's quite formidable when angered."

Ni Joh laughed. "Sounds like a fun family dynamic. Things at my home are much like Two Rivers. Calm and peaceful. Maybe because the only threat we have to worry about are the outlaws in the swamp, but they never venture into the village or the farmlands, for some reason. My father is convinced that it will stay that way, and he does not like the idea of fighting them. 'That's what Master Li and his students are for,' he says. Not that we would ever dream that you are here to serve us farmers and villagers like that," he added quickly.

"Well…" Kia Min said as she placed a finger on her cheek and slyly grinned. "Maybe. Because why would a small town like this have a martial arts school anyway? It's like you said yesterday. You can never be too prepared. Anyway, let's get back to it."

She took a deep breath, and finally found it easier to perform her meditations and practices for Ni Joh. Each move was smoother than the last and felt more natural than before. Perhaps it was the river down below, or the calm breeze through the trees, Kia Min could not and would not discern what it was. The gong rang for lunch all too soon, and she sighed, disappointed. She looked at Ni Joh then, who had been watching her, astounded, and his eyes hopeful that she would say the words that she found she could not help but to say.

"Same time, same place, tomorrow?"

"Yes, of course! I'm looking forward to it!"

And Kia Min was shocked to find herself agreeing with him.


	3. Lin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lin watches as things change at Two Rivers School with the arrival of Gao the Lesser and evaluates her self-worth.

Most of the students had been excited for Wu when Master Li began training her for her tests to become senior student. The reduced time each student had with their master seemed unimportant to most, and they saw it for a good reason anyway.

Lin, however, did not question herself when she found she could not be as excited as the other students. When Master Li made the announcement she had wrinkled her nose and spent the rest of the day alone behind Master Li's house with her staff, fighting the invisible demons around her. She tried to tell herself that she was being completely unreasonable, that Wu had been training all her life and these tests were probably long overdue for her anyway, but she could not help but to feel a little cheated. Kia Min and Dawn Star were not the only two students who could hold their own against Wu, and she felt that she should be praised for the progress she made having never fought a single soul—well, not physically, anyway—before arriving to Two Rivers, unlike everyone else at her level at the school.

The sun had started setting when she finally collapsed onto the grass, panting and staring up at the darkening sky. She closed her eyes and tried to let the soft splashes of the nearby waterfall calm her, tried to feel the gentle breeze, everything she was ever taught to focus on during her meditations, anything to clear her mind. She sat up on her knees and placed her hands on her thighs, hoping that being in the right position would put her in the right mindset, but when she could not feel her storm of frustration mitigating she growled in disgust and climbed back to her feet.

This was absolutely ridiculous.

Wu deserved this. Wu more than anyone else at the school deserved this. She kept repeating those words in her head, but her anxiety did not ease. She picked up her staff and twirled it in her hands.

"What am I doing here?" she muttered as she glared at her weapon.

* * *

Lin picked up her mended uniform from the table in Jong Yu's shop and smiled. "This is perfect, Mrs. Jong! You couldn't tell that there was ever a tear!"

Jong Yu grimly held up a hand as Lin hurried into the patched clothes. "Please, it was nothing. All I ever get around here anymore are these kinds of requests from students. 'Mend this' or 'this doesn't fit right' or something like that. I wish someone in this village would get _married_ already. I haven't made anything exquisite in a long time. I'm afraid I might be losing my touch."

"Surely you've had to do more than just sew up a few tears or hem up some pants or dresses lately," said Lin as she pulled on her vest and tied the belt to hold the robes tighter against her. "Weddings robes aren't the only clothes you make. I'm sure Jin has needed bigger clothes every month now."

Jong Yu smiled as she glanced back at the toddler playing with wooden blocks in the far corner of the shop. "It's not that he needs bigger clothes, it's that he's such a little troublemaker that he rips his shirts and pants in half all the time, and I have no choice but to make him new clothes. I have to keep my eye on him when I let him outside to play, or he's likely to get himself killed. Besides, clothes for my son are one thing. Beautiful dresses for something as splendid as a wedding ceremony, now, that's something else. It's a shame that this village is too small for something like that to happen very often. How long do you think it'll take before one of the students gets married?"

Lin laughed and shook her head. "Please, Mrs. Jong, you know Master Li probably wouldn't allow any of the students to fraternize like that. It's too much of a distraction. And besides, has any of the students who have graduated ever come back? Not many of the students who are at the school now ever say anything about staying in Two Rivers after their training is complete."

"Oh, I'm sure Student Wu would not leave this place, or if she did, she would surely return eventually. I imagine Master Li might be training her to take his place someday with all the attention you say he gives her."

"If that's the case, she's not likely to get married at all," said Lin. "Besides, Master Li keeps talking lately about some sort of destiny for her. She'll leave, and probably never come back. Probably won't even look back."

Jong Yu frowned. "Don't say things like that, Lin. Though that is exciting that Master Li thinks Wu has a destiny. I wonder what it is. Things in the Empire seem peaceful enough, though we never will rid the world of bandits. Master Li does well enough keeping them in the marshlands anyway. Of course, then again…" She trailed off.

"'Then again,' what?"

She quickly shook her head. "It's nothing. Never mind. I guess there's a part of me that's being a little too hopeful and maybe a little selfish. Wu's destiny couldn't possibly have anything to do with… well, it's nothing. You're not going to leave a working woman working for free, now are you?"

Lin sighed and pulled some silver coins from her purse and handed it to the seamstress when she noticed a neatly folded uniform on top of the chest of drawers by the far wall. That was odd. When Smiling Mountain sent her to get her uniform mended he had not mentioned picking up another one, and no one had completely ruined their uniform in the past week that Jong Yu would have had another made so quickly. So what could it be for? Back up? If so, Jong Yu should have had it delivered to Master Li instead of sitting around in her shop.

"Is that a school uniform over there?" asked Lin as she nodded towards the garment.

Jong Yu glanced over her shoulder and nodded slowly. "Yes. Master Li had me make one. A new student is supposed to be arriving tomorrow. Dawn Star is supposed to come by and pick it up later this afternoon."

She fell silent, and her discomfort did not escape Lin. "You know something about this new student, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes, unfortunately. My husband works for his father, and perhaps that is how they found out about the school. He always did have a big mouth. Couldn't think that maybe _not_ mentioning anything that would entice his son would have been better for his family… for all of us."

Lin squirmed. "Is it really that bad?"

"Like father, like son, they say, and heaven knows that his father is power hungry enough to indulge in criminal activities to gain him wealth and status, or try to, at least. At least my husband has sense enough to stay away from it, but unfortunately it is such a large part of Gao the Greater's business that I'm afraid my husband will have no choice but to get involved. I fear for him, every day, and every night. And now that Gao the Lesser is coming here… nothing good can come out of this. I can't believe Master Li is allowing this. That was why I was hoping that Wu's destiny has something—anything—to do with getting rid of Gao the Greater. It would make so much sense, why Master Li would let this happen, if that were the case. I just hope this village won't suffer for it."

"Oh," said Lin. She kicked herself for something to say, anything to say, but the only thing she could think of sounded false and foolish. Perhaps false and foolish was better than silence; Jong Yu had clammed up and seemed expectant for a response. "Maybe… maybe this Gao the Lesser boy… maybe he'll be _better_ than his father? Maybe not power hungry, and maybe his father might be forcing him here?"

Jong Yu held a tight smiled. "Like your parents forced you here?" She sighed. "I guess you're right. Maybe Master Li hopes to change the boy somehow, like how he's changed you."

Lin frowned. "I wasn't that bad, was I?"

Jong Yu laughed. "Young lady, you were literally kicking and screaming through the school gates when you first came here. If nothing else, you've at least learned to control your temper since then. You certainly aren't throwing tantrums anymore."

Lin blushed at the memory. What a fool she had made of herself that entire first month she was in Two Rivers. At least she had managed to redeem herself. "Well, maybe that's it, then. My parents did make sure to give Master Li ample warning about me before they sent me here, after all. I still don't think I'm turning out like they'd hope."

"You could be worse," said Jong Yu gently. "Now, shoo, you need to be getting back to your studies, or your fights, or whatever it is you students do behind those gates. I have to get back to work. I do have more than one mouth to feed around here. Oh, and please—" She hesitated. "Do be careful around him. Promise me that."

That was a strange request, but something in her face told Lin that she could not exactly refuse the advice. Fear, maybe? Lin could not bear to lie, though. It was a martial arts school, after all. "I'll do my best."

Jong Yu nodded slowly, and the two bowed to each other farewell. They both knew that that was the best Lin could offer.

* * *

She was sparring in the ring when they arrived, and it was their extravagant silk robes that caught her attention. She pulled away from her opponent a good distance enough that he, too, had stopped fighting, and they both watched as the boy and his father entered Master Li's house. For a moment, Lin hoped that the boy was truly good deep down—he was not exactly an eyesore—but he turned around and saw her in the ring, and his eyes flashed something unpleasant, and she realized that her attempts to help Jong Yu feel better about Gao's son attending the school had been for naught.

As the door slid closed behind the newcomers, Lin's opponent hesitantly said, "Who are they? Traders, or government officials, or—"

"The boy is a new student," she said quietly, "and the man is his father."

"Really?" He sounded dumbfounded. "But they look… rich. Anyone with that kind of money could surely afford to go to a more prestigious school closer to the Imperial City. Why would they come here?"

In spite of herself, Lin laughed a little. "They're probably from the borderlands, and Master Li is probably making a better name for himself and Two Rivers now. We have been getting more new students lately from as far away as Tien's Landing." He did not need to know—yet—that one of the man's hirelings was a resident of Two Rivers and had told him about the school.

"I guess that's true, even though it's weird to think people with that kind of money would choose to live so far away from the Imperial City."

"It's not that strange," Lin said, remembering what Jong Yu had said about Gao the Greater's business. "Well, come on, let's finish up this match. I see a senior-student-in-training eager to use it after us."

Wu the Lotus Blossom was chatting with Dawn Star by the entrance to the ring, both looking in the direction of Master Li's house and both seeming concerned. Maybe they had heard a little bit about Gao the Lesser as well? In any case, they had been waiting to use the ring for a little while now and had been watching Lin's match until the newcomers had arrived, and as much as Lin wanted to hog the ring for as long as possible she knew that delaying the girl who was preparing for her tests to achieve senior student status was not something she wanted to be criticized for later.

It was not like the other venues for sparring were exactly free, either; Kia Min had started group combat training, and Smiling Mountain had stolen away the other students to help her with that at his sparring grounds, and the younger students were otherwise scattered about the school grounds.

Lin thought it strange that Jing Woo was nowhere to be in sight, but he had been as moody and aloof as Dawn Star ever since Master Li took him off his apprenticeship with Wu. Was Wu really that fickle? It didn't seem right, but then, Lin barely knew Wu outside of Master Li's praises.

And so, Lin finished the bout, stalling just long enough to make sure that Wu and Dawn Star watched her win. She relinquished the ring to them without a word to them, and the two girls started sparring. All the other students quickly ceased their meditations to watch. When Lin's partner seemed all too eager to follow suit, she realized she had little choice but to watch unless she wanted to be recruited as an extra opponent against Kia Min. She rolled her eyes. This was not a productive way to spend her afternoon.

"I can't believe we all have to stop what we're doing for this," she muttered.

Halfway into the match, Lin heard the boy emerge from Master Li's house with a haughty, indignant grunt, and he stood three paces away from her around the ring. She stole a glance in his direction. He would have had a pleasant face if that scowl was not etched upon it, and she remembered when she had pouted her first time watching a match. Only one person had dared approach her, and she wondered if that same person would dare approach him now.

After she finished her match against her childhood friend, of course.

Sure enough, Wu won, and both opponents wore pleased smiles as they bowed in ceremony. Lin hated to admit it, but watching those two fight was always exciting, especially since it so rarely happened, and she watched as they started to leave the ring, and she watched as they noticed the new student. What was puzzling was that the two girls exchanged unreadable looks, something that almost never passed between them when a new student arrived as far as Lin could remember, and Dawn Star sighed and Wu shrugged and made her way towards the new student.

Nobody reentered the ring, and everyone watched as Wu went to introduce herself to him. This match would not be nearly as exciting as the last one, but every new student was a curiosity and everyone seemed to love watching her spar regardless of opponent. Lin was just pleased she was going to be well in earshot of this conversation.

"You must be Gao," Wu said as she approached him. She bowed, though the movement was somewhat cautious, and she kept her eyes locked upon his.

"And you must be the top student, the precious protégé," he replied with a snort. "I've heard all about you. Are you expecting me to grovel, to follow your every word? You must be used to it. I saw how everyone dropped what they were doing just to watch you fight. It was hardly impressive."

Wu was taken aback, and she quickly glanced back at Dawn Star, who was uncharacteristically glaring at the boy. "Well, no," she tried, almost helplessly, as she turned back to Gao. "That's not… I just wanted to get to know you a little. That's all."

"Don't waste your time," he said. "I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to learn, to get stronger, and anything else will just get in my way. So don't even bother."

They both were silent for a moment as they stared at each other. Wu seemed determined to try to read the boy, to see if there was anything she could learn from staring him down, and Lin wondered why she didn't just ask him to spar because that's what she _always_ did. Gao, on the other hand, held his head high and defiant as though he was willing Wu to back down, to surrender to his arrogance, as though he was waiting for Wu to challenge him.

Wu shook her head, offered a faint, forced smile, and bowed once more to the boy. "Welcome to Two Rivers, Gao the Lesser," she said curtly, and she turned on her heel and walked away.

She passed Dawn Star, who only lingered for a moment to continue to stare down Gao, and then she, too, quickly followed behind Wu as they headed towards the school gate. Gao wandered off in the opposite direction, and the other students glanced at each other nervously as though they did not know what to do next. Lin wondered what on earth Master Li was thinking, letting this boy attend the school.

But she wondered why Wu did not ask him for a kind match, like she always did, and so Lin was quick behind her and managed to reach her before she disappeared behind the gate.

"Wait a minute," Lin called to her. Wu stopped and turned to face Lin curiously. "You didn't ask him to spar. You _always_ ask the new student to spar with you. It's what you do. Why didn't you, just now?"

Wu sighed. "Master Li told me not to."

"What? Why?"

"He wouldn't say, other than that it'd be too dangerous. Something about Gao's old style being… too… different, I guess." She shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Lin." She stared past her, concerned, as though her eyes were on Gao. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

Wu smiled at Lin, as though she knew something, knew something that she knew Lin knew, and disappeared with Dawn Star behind the gate. Lin slowly turned back towards the rest of the school and saw that most students, including her partner, had chosen meditation in order to continue their studies. Gao the Lesser was nowhere in sight, and for once the sparring ring was empty.

Everything will be fine, Wu had said. Somehow, Lin doubted it.

* * *

A month had passed since Gao the Lesser started attending Two Rivers School, though it took no more than a day for everyone to realize why Master Li had forbidden Gao from fighting not only Wu the Lotus Blossom, but any of the students. Not a day had gone by without Master Li publically condemning Gao's impatience and temper, and every so often Master Li found ground to punish the boy for his insolence and defiance. Lin found it curious that Dawn Star kept to her garden more often than usual, and not even Kia Min bothered to try to befriend Gao. Everyone kept their distance from the boy, but he seemed to care little. Otherwise, everything fell back into normalcy, and though some had the opinion that Gao was just talk, and was harmless otherwise, Lin still feared the worst.

She tried her best to ignore it, to ignore him. She visited Jong Yu's shop more often, pretending she had gotten a new tear in her vest or her pants. They never said a word about Gao to each other and instead focused on gossip on other things: how the Ni family was having trouble keeping tabs on their eldest son anymore and what on earth could he be doing to neglect his chores, and how Wu's tests for senior student were going and how Lin could not wait until she could test for senior student status herself someday, and by the way, and have you heard that Fen Do's latest shipment was apparently delayed because of ghosts? They laughed, and Jong Yu did not seem to mind that Lin never really did have anything to be mended, and they parted with Lin offering Jin a sweet pastry she had bought on her way over and Jong Yu half-heartedly scolding her for it.

When Lin returned to the school, a small crowd had gathered around the sparring ring, and everyone seemed enthusiastically interested. Curious, Lin made her way there to see a bout that she supposed had only ever happened in private: Wu and Jing Woo. She smiled in spite of herself; it was good to see him around again, even if it was just this once. She had found out that he had been finding secluded places to meditate since being taken off of Wu's training, and she had only seen him if he were sparring another student by either Master Li's or Smiling Mountain's request, or at meal times where she could see that things were uncomfortably gloomy between him and Kia Min despite their best efforts.

Lin had gotten used to his smile over the past few months, and the arrival of Gao the Lesser, she realized, had been worsened without it around. Wu might have been friendlier had it been around. But Lin's relief to see Jing Woo in the ring with Wu was short-lived once she realized that something was not right at all with how either of them were fighting each other.

The match did not last for much longer. Jing Woo was soon on his back and Wu hovered over him angrily.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" she demanded as Jing Woo slowly climbed back onto his feet. "You fight better than this, I know you do. And now I have Kia Min coming to me concerned about you, saying things like you haven't been eating as much as you used to, that you've been quiet and distant to even her. It's not _like_ you. And you're going to tell me what's wrong _now_ or heaven forbid you will regret it."

The other students started slinking away slowly, and Lin followed suit out of courtesy, though she kept herself within earshot. She kept telling herself that it was none of her business, but in the same breath she did not mind letting curiosity get the best of her. Besides, if they were going to quarrel in the middle of the school, she could not be faulted for overhearing their words. She found a small group of students chatting off to the side and joined their conversation as to not seem too suspicious in her eavesdropping, keeping her eyes and ears on the ring.

"It's nothing," said Jing Woo.

"It's not nothing. Don't give me that."

Jing Woo did not respond and did not meet Wu's eyes. Wu sighed. "Jing Woo, I'm just worried about you. We all are. Kia Min isn't the only one who's approached me. What's wrong? Maybe there's something I can do to help—anything."

He laughed softly. "You'd only scold me if you knew," he said, finally meeting her eyes. There was something there, something that threw Lin off guard. She hadn't wanted to believe those rumors, and she had denied them whenever someone asked her if it were true… but it was Wu the Lotus Blossom. Of course those rumors in particular would have turned out to be true. "And there's nothing you can do about it anyway. It's all on me to get over it myself, I guess."

"Jing Woo, we're friends, you can tell me. I promise I won't scold you."

He shook his head. "It's better that I didn't. It really is kind of foolish. Thanks for the match. I really needed it, I think, and it felt good to have a real challenge again, to lose to someone other than Kia Min."

"Jing Woo—"

"Good luck on your final test tomorrow," he said as he exited the ring. "Soon we'll be calling you senior student, now, won't we?"

He disappeared in the courtyard within the student quarters, and Lin watched as Wu scowled and clenched her fists as she stormed out of the ring. "Oh, that boy is going to regret this," she hissed under her breath as she passed the group Lin was with. The conversation within the circle ceased as everyone watched her pass by them, all shocked to see her upset. She stopped, and looked at Lin, and for a moment Lin almost felt guilty for listening on their conversation—Wu must have known she had eavesdropped—but her question took Lin off guard. "Is Mrs. Jong's shop still open, Lin?"

"Er—yes," said Lin.

Wu nodded. "Good. Thank you." But before she could take another step towards the school gate, none other than Gao the Lesser approached them. Wu groaned. "I am _not_ in the mood, Gao. Why don't you go meditate or something?"

"Master Li wants to see you," he said shortly. "And I have better things to do than to meditate right now. You're not senior student yet, and even if you were, I'll do such things when I feel is convenient, not when you tell me to. I only look forward to you completing your tests so that maybe I can actually do a little sparring around here, maybe get a little stronger, maybe learn something. We all know your tests are delaying the rest of us from advancing."

A student piped up from behind Lin. "That's not true—"

"Don't let yourself be fooled, little sheep," said Gao. "Anyway, go. You shouldn't keep your precious master waiting."

Wu rolled her eyes and started towards Master Li's house, but she stopped for a moment and said to Gao, "You know, the only one who is stopping you from getting any better is yourself."

He snorted. "Pretty words. Too bad those are the words of a peasant."

Wu shook her head and continued on her way. Gao turned his attention to Lin and the group she was with. "What?" he demanded. "Don't you have anything better to do? Like maybe kiss the ground that girl is walking upon?"

The group of students scattered muttering varying degrees of disgust. Lin stayed put, though she was sure her face echoed the consensus of the dispersed students. "Don't you ever tire of this?" she asked. "Because frankly, this is getting quite old."

"You're one to talk, Lin," he replied, and Lin ignored her surprise that he had bothered to learn her name. "Don't think I haven't seen you talking to the other students while watching her matches, and don't think I haven't heard some of the things you've said. We both know you agree with me."

"And what things do you think I have said?" Certainly it was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing too surprising, and nothing as bad as the comments Gao made!

"How you can't believe that the whole school stops what they're doing just to watch her spar, though you do the same exact thing. How it's never surprising to see her win every match, though you'd like to take her down a peg someday yourself. How you're sick of Master Li always saying good things about her, always telling us to be like her, and how you wish he'd say the same of you. And yet I still see you as a member of her fanclub here, paying attention to her every word, her every move. Honestly, I think that makes you worse than me. At least I'm not two-faced."

Lin's face turned red. "Two-faced? You've got a lot of nerve, talking to me like that."

"What are you going to do? You have no status at this school, and you know it. Maybe tattle to those with status? Too bad none of them give you much of the time of day. Go ahead. Prove me wrong about you."

"I don't have to take this," Lin said. "You say I don't have any status? I certainly have more than you."

Gao laughed. "You just wait. As soon as Master Li permits me to spar, I'll have more status than even his precious senior student. I'll show everyone when she's the first person I defeat in this school. And then you tell me you're nothing like me."

Lin found that her hands were in fists; how _dare_ he. "I'm leaving. Don't bother me ever again." And Lin left him, not really caring where she was going or what she was going to do when she arrived, but she swore she would never say more than three words to Gao the Lesser for as long as either of them lived in Two Rivers.

* * *

To no one's surprise, Wu was named senior student within the week, and she had been sent to Jong Yu's shop to get her new attire. She no longer belonged in the robes of the junior student, though many agreed it was long overdue anyway. They wondered what had taken Master Li so long to get to this point, but he had a reason for everything he did, even if it did not make sense at first, so they accepted it and went about their fights and their meditations and daily routines without second thought.

Smiling Mountain had stolen Lin's regular sparring partner away for a private session, but Lin knew she needed to spend some time meditating anyway. She had become unfocused since her run-in with Gao, and she suffered in the arena because of it. She still won the matches she was supposed to, but they were harder than they used to be, and her opponents had all commented on it. She insisted that she was fine, she was just feeling a little ill, and thank you for your concern. But she knew that she needed to step back from fighting for a little while, recollect her thoughts, and remind herself that Gao was wrong. He had to be.

She sat on her knees and bowed her head, closing her eyes and tried to go through all the right motions Master Li had instilled her first month. Feel the breeze—there was no breeze. Listen to the rippling creek—it was too far away, and the sounds of the students in the ring were distracting, anyway. Control the breath, let the mind go…

Oh, who was she kidding? She was not up for this either. She stood and glanced around the school grounds. Maybe she just needed to discuss the matter with someone wise, someone like Master Li—who had his door closed, which meant that no one was to disturb him—or Smiling Mountain—but wait, he was dealing with her sparring partner right now, and would not have the attention to speak with her. Maybe there was a student she could talk to?

Her eyes landed on Jing Woo, who had chosen to meditate in front of his room and underneath a fading tree. "You have to be kidding," she scolded herself quietly, but she saw no other options. Nobody else would really talk to her. They'd either be too harsh, or they would just tell her what they thought she wanted to hear. Neither she nor Jing Woo knew each other especially well enough for either dialogue, and besides, at the rate she was going she'd never advance in the school. It was like Wu told Gao: she was the only one holding herself back.

She took a deep breath and slowly made her way over to him. He at least had started to meditate in the main area of the school, and not wherever secluded place he had managed to find before. Maybe the match against Wu really had helped, and he had not just been saying that to avoid offending her. That was good news.

"Jing Woo?" she said softly. He opened his eyes and peered at her curiously. "Do you have a moment?"

He frowned. "You look like something is bothering you. What is it?"

Lin sighed and took a seat next to him. "Just answer yes or no. Do you think I'm no different than Gao?"

He blinked once, then twice, and asked, "What?"

"Do you think I'm no better than Gao?"

Jing Woo shook his head in disbelief, and his face twisted in confusion. "Where did that—who said that?"

"Gao did."

"Oh." Jing Woo laughed a little and rolled his eyes. "Lin, you know better than to listen to what he says by now, don't you? Everyone knows he's just full of hot air. Why are you letting it bother you so much?"

"Because not everything he said was hot air," said Lin. "Some of the things he said… it's true. He called me two-faced. That can't be true, can it? I mean, I can still be nice to the person I'm jealous of, can't I? I can still respect her, and her skill, even if it is grudgingly, right? I can wish to beat her someday, I can complain about everyone dropping everything to watch her matches, and do it too, right? I mean, I usually don't have anyone else to spar with during those times anyway… but. Am I no better than Gao? Am I no different than him?"

Jing Woo sighed. "Lin, I think you already know the answer to that question. You don't need to hear it from me. Don't let him get to you."

Lin pursed her lips. "Meditating didn't help, and I thought it would. I haven't been fighting as well as I would like, either. Apparently, I _do_ need to hear it from someone, one way or the other. I really am sorry to bother you with this, but I need to know: am I no better than Gao?"

"And you need to hear this from _me_? I think Smiling Mountain or Master Li's words would be worth more than mine."

"Everyone likes you, Jing Woo. The same can't be said for me. Besides, Master Li and Smiling Mountain are both busy. I can't disturb them over something like this, not right now."

He closed his eyes and sighed. "Okay, fine," he said, but before he could say another word the school had risen up in a commotion, and both Lin and Jing Woo glanced up to see what was going on.

Wu the Lotus Blossom had returned in her new outfit. Lin felt her jaw drop; Wu's new choice of dress certainly was not conventional by any means of the word. She could hardly believe Jong Yu had sewn anything like it. The plum shade made sure she stood out, and the ornamentations only added to the prominence of her presence. That she could believe Jong Yu would have done—she had said she wanted to make something exquisite, and this was about as close as she could come—but the part that caused everyone to stare was that it was two-piece. Lin never thought she would ever see _that_ much of the top student.

And apparently, neither did Jing Woo, who had frozen in place. Wu quickly took notice, and with a wicked grin, approached him.

"You. Me. Spar. Now," she said, her smirk more mischievous than anything Lin had ever seen on the girl.

Jing Woo did not say anything, did not move. Wu reached down, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him up and close to her.

"I _told_ you you'd regret it, you fool," she said and proceeded to drag Jing Woo to the ring. Jing Woo managed to shake himself out of his stupor in time to glance back to Lin and smile apologetically. In spite of herself, Lin could not help but to laugh at the sight as the two faced each other, and everyone gathered. She felt no better, but as the match went on between senior student and her former apprentice, she was relieved to see that Jing Woo's smile was back, and everything was going to be all right again in Two Rivers, one way or the other.

The next day, Master Li finally set Gao the Lesser against his first opponent, but he forbade him from challenging Wu this first day. His rage was too evident, and many of his first opponents all but forfeited the match just to avoid whatever his wrath had to dish out. It was clear that Gao wanted to defeat everyone he could just to prove to Master Li that he was as worthy to fight Wu freely as the others were.

Lin gripped her staff tightly. She knew she would be next. She had hoped that with every victory he would have calmed down significantly, that he would have been less and less prone to injuring someone, but she was wrong. Finally, his eyes fell upon her, and he laughed.

"Well, this ought to be interesting," he said.

She wrinkled her nose, and without a word, she stepped into the arena. Every student in the school was watching, everyone from Wu the Lotus Blossom to the orphan children Master Li had taken under his wings. Master Li watched with Dawn Star and Wu at his side from his house, and Smiling Mountain stood a distance away, for once not seeming pleased at the outcome of events. Her only hope was that she would be able to land at least one blow on him—it would be a step up from the others—but not long before the match started she found herself on the ground, Gao having won.

He sniffed indignantly. "Just as pointless as the others. I guess I do have more status than you, after all," he said.

Lin climbed to her feet and dusted her pants. She refused to answer him, she refused to glorify his statement with any sort of comment. But there was ceremony to follow, so she brought her hands together to bow to him, but he had already turned his back to her to challenge the next student. She scowled. What an impertinent _child_!

Jing Woo fared no better either in combat or getting a gracious ceremony from Gao the Lesser. He glanced back at Master Li, or perhaps even Wu or Dawn Star, and Lin followed his gaze to see a stoic master, an annoyed senior student, and an enraged Dawn Star. Lin wondered what was taking Master Li so long to order Gao to do something so simple as bowing, and she hoped that the explanation was that he was seeing how long it took before he would have the common courtesy to do so. Perhaps a loss would do it?

Kia Min was next. Lin hated to admit it, but she found herself cheering for Kia Min privately, knowing that if anyone who wasn't Dawn Star or Wu to have a chance, she would be it. They started the match, and sure enough, it lasted for a good length of time. Lin almost had hope that Gao would finally silence himself with such a humiliating defeat, especially since Kia Min was training to fight more than one opponent now when she wasn't sneaking past the school gates into town. The two exchanged blow for blow, neither willing to put themselves on the defensive, when finally Gao threw Kia Min into the fence, declaring himself the winner.

Nobody cheered.

Kia Min stood and brushed off the dirt from the sparring ring with the tiniest hint of a frown. Gao smirked viciously; he knew the rankings in the school just as well as anybody else. No one but Dawn Star or Wu could defeat Kia Min in one-on-one combat, and especially not so soundly, and everyone knew what that meant.

"Hardly worth my time," he said, and he turned to face Master Li. "Enough of this. You have delayed my inevitable match against your precious protégé long enough. Surely this proves that no other student in this school is a match for me, though I doubt she would be any better."

Lin shook her head in disbelief. Would she be like this if she were in Gao's shoes? Surely not! She wondered if she would perhaps think the words, but she knew she would never dare speak them. Did that make her better than Gao? She dreadfully hoped so.

Kia Min's firm and unrelenting voice broke through any sort of response Smiling Mountain might have thought to give the boy. "Gao."

Gao turned his attention back to her, and for a moment, they just stared at each other; Gao looked as though he was trying to find some sort of humiliation and defeat in her eyes, and Kia Min held her head high and her eyes defiant. Nobody, not even Smiling Mountain, or Master Li watching from the porch of his house, said a word or made a move.

Finally, Kia Min brought her hands together in front of her, and bowed.

Gao scowled and waved his hand dismissively. As he looked to address Master Li again, Dawn Star spoke.

"Gao the Lesser, if you have any sense of decency, and if you have any hope to continue learning at this school, you _will_ be gracious enough to honor your opponent."

Lin watched as Gao met Master Li's eyes, who confirmed Dawn Star's words. Gao scowled, turned back to Kia Min, and slowly and painfully brought his hands together in front of him, and returned the gesture.

No sooner had he completed the bow he quickly snapped back up to demand to fight Wu, but Lin's attention stayed on Kia Min, who hesitated in her stance just a little bit longer. Kia Min had the softest of smiles on her face and a satisfied gleam in her eyes. It puzzled Lin, but Jing Woo approached her side and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You asked me yesterday if you were no better than Gao the Lesser," he said softly. "I hope this answered your question."

Lin and Jing Woo looked at each other, and Lin saw it in his eyes, the sincerity, the belief in her person. He smiled.

"But in case you still needed to hear it: yes, Lin. You are a good person, and he is not. You _are_ better than Gao the Lesser. Please don't ever forget it."


	4. Dawn Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawn Star struggles with her place in the grand scheme of things in Two Rivers when she tries to help a couple of villagers.

When news of Jong Jin's death reached Dawn Star's ears, she quietly finished her business in the village and retreated back to the school, doing her best to ignore the suspicious and curious stares of the other villagers. When she reached the garden, she handed the children she charged with its safekeeping small cakes she bought from the local baker and sent them to watch the matches in the ring. She sat on the wooden steps of the little house and watched the spinning watermill as she nibbled on her own cake, banishing any creeping thoughts and visions of dead children visiting her in the night.

She had barely gotten used to the natural deaths in the village—livestock keeling over because of one disease or another and old age, and old men and women passing on in their sleep. The villagers had stopped eyeballing her every move whenever she visited the town, and most were more than just polite to her anymore.

Dawn Star tugged at the red cotton fabric draped over her knees. Jong Yu had sewn this for her not a fortnight ago, after Master Li had quietly granted her senior student status. She appreciated the lack of ceremony. In many ways, Wu was still her superior, Wu was the one who led, Wu was the example, and Dawn Star was thankful for it. She would have gladly stayed in the junior student robes had Master Li given her a choice in the matter.

Today, she wished that Master Li had given her a choice in the matter.

"Dawn Star!"

Dawn Star looked up to see the beaming face of her friend jogging over the bridge, and Dawn Star couldn't help but to smile herself. "Good morning, Wu," she said, and she dug out the last of the cakes she brought in from the village and handed it to her.

Wu plopped down next to Dawn Star and gleefully eyed the pastry. "Mm, my favorite! Thanks, Dawn Star, you didn't have to!"

Dawn Star shook her head as Wu took a huge bite out of the cake. "It was nothing. I owed the children something for keeping an eye on the garden, and I thought I'd pick up one for you, too, while I was at it."

"The children? Oh, to make sure Gao won't come stomping on the flowers out of spite, right?" Wu swallowed and grinned. "He sure is a lady killer, that one."

"Don't say things like that. I'm afraid one day it'll be… literal."

Wu laughed, and she finished off the cake and wiped her hands of the crumbs. "That was delicious. Thanks again." She flashed Dawn Star a smile, and then she frowned. "Are you okay? You look pale."

Dawn Star turned away; she had hoped that her relief that Wu was with her would have hidden away her concerns. "I'm fine."

"You didn't even finish your cake."

"It's nothing."

"Dawn Star…" She knew that tone, and she knew it well. Wu hated it when people evaded her questions, especially in times such as these when someone she cared about was troubled, and Dawn Star knew that she would get no peace from her unless she talked. She just wasn't sure if she was ready to yet.

"It's nothing," she repeated firmly, and brought the pastry to her mouth to prove her point. She felt Wu's eyes glaring at her, and Dawn Star tried to convince herself that she was not bothered by it. After she swallowed her meager bite, she put on the best smile she could and faced Wu again but focusing on the small waterfall behind her. She did not want to meet her friend's eyes, not right now. "How was your practice?"

Wu did not answer right away, but when Dawn Star heard her sigh she knew that the topic had been changed, for now. "It was good," she said simply.

"And?"

"… Kia Min one-upped me again."

The disappointment in her voice was so evident that Dawn Star laughed. "What was it this time? How many opponents you can face in a row without breaking a sweat?"

Ever since Kia Min began group combat training, she and Wu had been exercising a friendly rivalry in curious challenges. Every other week they would approach Smiling Mountain and ask him to time how long it would take them to defeat a certain number of opponents and not long before the other was out of the ring they would compare times. Once in a while, they would even extend that to how long it would take to go through a certain number of single opponents without getting hit, or how many blows they could land on each other before Wu defeated Kia Min. Not many knew about this little competition, likely because neither of them bothered to clue Student Lin in on their secret.

"Well, we asked Jing Woo and that new student, Wen, I think, to time us when we sparred some of the younger students. That challenge again, except this time I fought with a staff, and she fought with her bare hands. You know, our weakest styles." Wu sighed. "She beat me by two seconds."

Dawn Star tried—and failed—to stifle her giggles behind her hand. Wu had suffered defeats before, but all the students who had been around then had moved on to something else, and most were never heard from again. They had all been in the ring besides, in one-on-one combat. She had not lost those kinds of matches in a few years now, and Wu had seemed almost bored with her constant victories. Now that she was actually _losing_ , albeit in something a little different, Dawn Star could not bear to admit to her friend that she found her pouts over the matter endlessly amusing.

Besides, she was certain that Jing Woo teased her often enough about it.

Wu glanced at Dawn Star and frowned. "It's not that funny," she continued, "there was no reason why I shouldn't have won this time. The staff has a longer reach, _she_ should have been the one beaten by… at least _five_ seconds!"

Dawn Star raised an eyebrow, still grinning. "You proposed the challenge." Not that, if Dawn Star was being completely honest, she had expected otherwise.

"I thought it'd be good practice. And I thought I'd break the tie." Wu sighed. "I guess I accomplished that much."

Dawn Star shook her head. "Oh, Wu, I thought your first lesson to Jing Woo was never to underestimate your opponent."

"I _didn't_ underestimate Kia Min," Wu argued. "And that wasn't my _first_ lesson to him. I don't think."

Dawn Star laughed again, and she almost missed the relief in Wu's small smile. Wu stood, her grin turning into a pouty frown that Dawn Star briefly wondered was a façade, and declared that she was going to go find a staff real quick, and she would be right back. As she darted off back towards the school, Jing Woo and Kia Min rounded the corner, and Wu stopped as the three of them exchanged words. Dawn Star could not hear their words, but she understood their conversation: Jing Woo wore a huge grin on his face and his eyes twinkled with a great joke, and Wu glared at him, and Kia Min chuckled nervously, and Wu turned her attention to Kia Min and both of their faces brightened. Dawn Star shook her head. Of course Wu would have wanted a rematch.

Wu disappeared behind the grassy hill, and the other two made their way across the bridge, sharing smiles that Dawn Star often shared with Wu. Jing Woo noticed her then and waved, and Dawn Star returned his greeting with a smile.

"Where are you two headed?" she asked. Not that their destination had any consequence to her, and she already suspected that they were not going to the same place and their leave of the school together was a ruse to avoid questions.

When Kia Min shrugged sheepishly and turned to Jing Woo for a quick answer, Dawn Star knew she had been correct. "Gujin's," Jing Woo answered without skipping a beat. "I wanted to do a little training with him. Watching Wu with the staff today inspired me to work on it a little bit more."

"You like your fists more," said Kia Min, as though she had not thought the taunt through.

Jing Woo laughed. "Oh, Kia Min, you misunderstand me. Wu lost to you with her weakest skill. That inspired me to train with my weakest skill some more. I suspect that's what you're going to be doing, too."

"At Gujin's," she replied, and Dawn Star couldn't decide if she was trying too hard to lie or if she was trying to point out the flaw in Jing Woo's cover-up story. In any case, Dawn Star figured that Jing Woo was telling the truth, since he never explicitly said that _both_ of them were heading out to train with Gujin.

"Well, I don't want to hold you up here," she said. "Have fun, both of you, with training."

The two bowed quickly and bid her a good day. As they disappeared behind the school gate, Dawn Star let out a small sigh and closed her eyes and let the trickling of the stream next to her soothe her. If anything, she was glad that Wu's presence granted her even just a little bit of relief, no matter how temporary. It was always just enough to gather some peace to keep her going. She heard padded feet dart across the wooden planks of the bridge and she opened her eyes to see Wu with two staffs and an eager grin on her face. Dawn Star stood up, and Wu tossed her a staff, and for the rest of the afternoon Dawn Star was able to keep the too young face of Jong Jin out of her head as the two friends sparred in the garden.

* * *

Dawn Star could not be so lucky at night. The first couple of nights after the boy's death her mind always drifted back to Jong Yu, and how terrible it must have been to lose her only child and without her husband home to comfort her and support her. She wondered if she had anyone—to be alone with her darkness was something Dawn Star was all too familiar with, and something she never wished on anyone.

She had considered visiting Jong Yu, and every day she entered the village she passed her shop, which was always closed now, and she paused and wondered if she dared. Past experience told her it was wiser to stay away from the loved ones left behind when the wounds were still fresh, and Master Li often advised her to leave them alone until the time of grieving had passed. She envied Wu and the other students for being able to offer a pat on their shoulders and receiving small, grateful smiles in return. She wished she could visit the loved ones like Master Li or Gujin could and the other villagers looking upon her with appreciation and awe. She hated having to be so cold to the mourners, but for the sake of her own well-being and the superstitions of the villagers, she needed to keep her distance.

The third night after Jong Jin's death, Dawn Star sat in her bed with a scroll in her hand and a small candle burning by her side. She had asked Smiling Mountain for good literature to distract her mind enough so she could get a good night's rest—Wu and Jing Woo fretted over her that afternoon, and Wu almost challenged Gao to a fight just to keep him away from her, she was that worried. Luckily, Jing Woo, always the calmer head, remembered that Master Li refused to let Wu and Gao spar and took Wu's place in a match that only made Wu angrier at Gao, Gao angrier at Wu, and Jing Woo too battered to fight for a week. Dawn Star cornered both of them after dinner and demanded to know why they had to go over the top like that.

"You seemed to have too much on your mind to have Gao bully you into courting him again," Wu said with a shrug.

Jing Woo laughed sheepishly. "Not that we really helped. Sorry."

That was when Dawn Star knew that she ought to sleep, and sleep well, lest she let anyone else get hurt. Smiling Mountain had asked no questions and given her a few scrolls of poetry, and as she read the passages she realized that Smiling Mountain had carefully chosen poets who wrote in awe of nature's beauty, and the joys of love, and all without a single metaphor of death. She wondered just how much he knew, but she was grateful for his assistance in any case.

Her eyelids grew heavy, and she set the scrolls on the table beside her bed and blew out the candle. As she crawled underneath her blanket, she caught her breath and froze. At the foot of her bed stood a young boy with a bloated, pale face. He smiled, but there was no trace of malice on his features. He seemed relieved, excited even.

"So it's true!" he said. "You _can_ see ghosts! Mama always said so, and it's true!"

Dawn Star swallowed. "… Jin?"

"And you know my name!" He hopped on her bed. "All the other children in the village say you're really nice, and everyone else thinks so, too! I think Mama likes you but Miss Lin is always the one who visits. She's really nice."

She was used to spirits visiting her in the night because of the rumors spread in Two Rivers about her abilities, and she was used to spirits crossing her path by accident, never expecting her to be able to sense their presence. But they were always old men and women, or if they were spirits whose lives were ended prematurely, they were never children. And despite visits with purpose or accidental meetings, they never saw her for at least a month after their passing, sometimes a year when they so wanted to reach the afterlife and didn't know how, and hoped that she would.

Why was Jong Jin here now?

"Jin," Dawn Star said slowly, "shouldn't you be…" Home? Going to the underworld? With his mother? "What are you doing here?"

Jong Jin frowned and he looked away. "Mama doesn't like ghosts," he said. "She doesn't want to see me."

"Oh," said Dawn Star softly, "oh, but Jin…"

"She blames herself for me becoming a ghost," he said. "She thinks it's her fault. That's why she isn't making clothes anymore, that's why she won't even see Miss Lin, and she hasn't told Papa yet, and she doesn't eat and she just cries and cries all day but she doesn't want to see me and she doesn't want to listen to me when I tell her that it's _not_ her fault and Miss Lin and everybody is worried about her. But _she won't listen_."

"Jin, you really can't blame her for that," said Dawn Star, wishing she could hug the boy when his voice broke, and she almost swore she saw tears.

"I _don't_ ," said Jong Jin as he turned back to her. "I _don't_ blame her. The waves… they were really big and strong that day. She didn't _want_ to let me swim but I cried and I kicked and I screamed and in front of everybody so she let me, and… it's my _own_ fault!"

"That's not what I meant, Jin," she said patiently. "I meant that your mother is still sad, and you have to let her get over it before she will listen to you. It's… part of grieving."

"But I can't wait," said the boy helplessly, quietly. "I can't."

She remembered the very last time she woke up in the middle of the night for a drink of water and crossed paths with a spirit with that same fear that was in Jin's eyes, but much stronger, and much wilder. She couldn't remember the woman's words, but she remembered she never retired to her room anymore without a cup of water already in her hands after that. Over time, she figured out that the woman was driven mad as she wandered the land of the living, seeking anything that resembled peace, anything at all, and now she saw it with Jong Jin. He was seeking peace, and he was seeking it from his mother, who was not giving it to him, because she didn't understand. She couldn't understand.

"Jin," said Dawn Star, "what do you want me to do?"

"You're nice," he said, "and everyone likes you. Everyone says so. Mama must like you, too. Can you please… let her see me? Let her listen to me?"

"I…" Dawn Star hesitated. Despite the countless spirits she had seen, through visits or accidental encounters, not one ever asked her for any sort of help, not like this. Sometimes they just wanted conversation or confirmation or in the worst case, retribution, but here was this little boy, gone before his time… "I will do my best, Jin."

Jong Jin smiled brightly, the fear in his eyes temporarily vanquished, and he disappeared into the night. Dawn Star lied down on her bed and sighed. So much for a good night's sleep.

* * *

The next morning Dawn Star ate breakfast alone, completed her meditations in seclusion, and snuck out of the school gates before Wu or Jing Woo or Gao or anybody stormed into the garden looking for her. She did not even bother to ask the children for any assistance, knowing that they would be too honest and see right through her lie that she was running an errand and would fail to tell anyone else anything but the truth. The student guarding the gate asked no questions—she was a senior student, after all, and not one prone to cause trouble like Wu inadvertently did, sometimes—and he let her pass with a short nod, a smile, and a "good morning."

Dawn Star rarely saw Two Rivers so early in the morning, and if Student Wen called this village a "sleepy town" before, she wondered what he would say now. The one or two people in the streets moseyed from one building to the next in deliberate succession, and even Fen Do was unusually silent as he set up his wares in front of his store and not trying to wave down anybody who so much as stole a glance in his general direction. Now was the best time to visit Jong Yu, when nobody would be trying to get into her store to pick-up an order or place one, but as she drew closer to the closed up building that was her home and life, Dawn Star found herself continuing past and up the stairs adjacent to it.

Gujin was carrying supplies from the shed behind his shop, and he wasted no time in taking notice to Dawn Star as she approached. "Good morning, Dawn Star," he said joyfully. "You're out on the town awfully early today."

"Good morning, Weapon Master," she said, and he laughed and shook his head and she knew that the formalities could be dropped. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm doing well," he said. "Kia Min dropped by yesterday asking for another staff. I have no idea what she needs two of them for but she's a diligent enough student that I trust her judgment on her own training. I was hoping to get it finished up for her before she came by later today, but I can spare a moment or two for you, certainly. Is there something you needed?"

Dawn Star hesitated for a moment as she followed Gujin inside. "… how is Mrs. Jong?" she finally asked.

"Yu?" Gujin placed the supplies on his table and tilted his head as he looked at her. "She's doing better, for whatever that is worth. I was able to stop by and see her last night." He paused, and then he frowned. "Certainly Master Li isn't expecting another student or heaven forbid allowing Gao to—"

"No, I was just wondering."

"You never 'just wonder,' Dawn Star," he said with a sigh. "Especially not so soon after… does Master Li know you're out here?"

She shook her head. "I came of my own accord."

"She's too superstitious for you to come a-calling, and she's still too distraught."

"I still need to see her. For Jin's sake."

"Jin's sake." Gujin stared at Dawn Star for a long moment, and she held her gaze high and steady. She did not understand why she had come to Gujin about this—she only knew why she could not discuss this with Master Li or Wu. Their response would have been too similar, but likely what she needed to hear to keep her from doing this task, even if it was keeping her from sleeping at night. What did she want from Gujin? He certainly was not going to tell her anything she needed to hear, only what she wanted to hear, and she doubted he would do even that.

He sighed. "It's not a good idea. It's much too soon. But—" Gujin forced a smile. "—you know spirits better than I or anyone else could ever hope to. If you really feel that it's the right thing to do, I say you should do it. Who knows? It might be exactly what she needs to hear."

Dawn Star smiled back at him, though just as strained as he. "Thank you, Gujin," she said. "I shouldn't keep you from your work any longer."

"Good luck, and be careful," he said, and she walked out of the shop feeling a little more at ease with her decision, but still dreading the encounter with all her heart. Maybe she should have spoken with Master Li about this first. He would have stopped her, and she would have listened, and though she would have to deal with a troubled spirit, Master Li always seemed to have an answer. He would have certainly had a better answer to this one. Wu would have done the same.

It was like Gujin said: this was a bad idea.

As she headed back towards Jong Yu's shop, she thought about the many different ways she could tell her about her son without inviting suspicion or further distress, and for every single variation she could think of, the worst reaction was exactly the same among each. There was no good way to do it. No matter what, this was going to be hard. Hopefully, she was just being pessimistic about the outcome.

Dawn Star was surprised when she reached the front of Jong Yu's shop: the seamstress had opened her doors for the first time since the accident. Gujin was right—she _was_ doing better, if only slightly enough to invite visitors and customers once again. Or, more likely, she was using this as a distraction, probably from the spectral sight of her son. Either way, this was proving promising.

She took a deep breath and gently tapped at the wooden frame of the doorway. "Mrs. Jong?" she called softly.

Jong Yu froze in the middle of separating fabrics, and Dawn Star watched her features harden. "Dawn Star," she stated. She pursed her lips and slowly continued to organize the cloths. "Did Master Li need something?"

Dawn Star shook her head. Maybe this was a bad idea. "No."

"Then please leave. I have a lot of work to catch up on."

Dawn Star watched the seamstress as she walked to the back of her shop to dig through her basket full of needles and threads. She did not seem to be looking for anything in particular, and surely she knew that the people of Two Rivers would forgive her for any late deliveries. It must be that she was trying to distract herself. Dawn Star considered leaving her be, to come back at another time, perhaps in another ninety-seven days, when the time of grieving had passed, and then she would be willing to listen, and she would not be so cold to her. She briefly wondered if she was going to be that cold to everyone, or just Dawn Star, considering her "gift," but then the anguished, bloated young face of Jong Jin flashed in her mind and she knew she had to follow through.

"Mrs. Jong," Dawn Star started, though she was unsure of how to continue. How could she say what Jong Jin wanted her to say? "I'm… very sorry to hear about your son."

Jong Yu said nothing and continued shuffling through her basket. Dawn Star thought she saw a scowl upon her face… or was it fear?

"Please leave," she said, more quietly. "I have work to do."

"I saw him last night," said Dawn Star without thinking. Jong Yu snapped her head up, her hand buried in strings and needles, and her eyes grew wide and her breath stopped. Yes, it was true, Jong Jin had visited his mother the past couple of nights. She was haunted by the vision, and she had reopened her store to keep his face out of her mind. Dawn Star could not decide if she was willing to listen or not, but she knew that there was no turning back now. "He… he wanted me to tell you that… the accident… it wasn't your fault… and he only wishes to talk to you, for you to see him, and—"

Dawn Star stopped then as Jong Yu's eyes grew dark, and she dropped the basket and her hands curled into fists. "You…" Her voice was dangerous, and Dawn Star drew a sharp breath. "You… you… _sorceress witch_ , _you_ called his ghost, didn't you? _You're_ the one who's not letting him find peace… it's _your_ fault that I'm constantly—constantly!—haunted by his face at night!"

"N-no, that's not—"

" _Get out_. Leave me alone… and do the village some good and just _stay away_ from us. You and Gao both. Nothing good ever came from the two of you."

Dawn Star didn't move for a second, shocked and confused—though she knew she shouldn't have been—at Jong Yu's words. Tears streamed out of the seamstress's eyes, and her whole body shook, and for a moment Dawn Star thought that she should repeat that the accident wasn't her fault at all, that Jong Jin would be at peace if only she would listen to him and not be afraid of him, but then she thought better of it. It was time for her to leave. She had overstayed her welcome.

She should not have come.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you, Mrs. Jong," said Dawn Star quietly. She bowed and took a step out the door only to run into Student Lin. She offered the junior student a reserved smile, but Lin only narrowed her eyes.

"What…" she started, but Dawn Star pushed past her and headed back to the school.

This had been a huge mistake.

Dawn Star silently walked back to the school without meeting the eyes of the other villagers, more in number now that it was later in the morning, or the student watching the gate, who had thought to welcome her back but seemed to have decided it was best not to, and she entered the little teahouse in the garden, firmly shutting the door shut behind her so that not even Gao—hopefully—would dare disturb her. She sat at the table where she and Wu often shared a cup of tea whenever Wu was able to spare a moment or two away from training, and she closed her eyes and found that she was controlling her breathing. Had she been that hurried? Her hands shook—no, she had been that stunned, though she knew she had no right to have been. Master Li would scold her as soon as he found out, but how could she have denied that little boy his one request? The living weren't the only ones who suffered.

When she found she could breathe evenly again, she opened her eyes and held her forehead in her hand as she slumped over the table. Maybe there had been a better way to tell Jong Yu, or maybe she should have waited, if only for a day or two, or perhaps a week. She should have told Jong Jin to be patient, to wait for just a little bit, and please keep visiting her, and she would have kept him strong as he waited, she would have—could have—kept him from madness as he waited.

This had been too soon. It had not been the right time. Oh, why had she not listened to her instincts, why had she thought that she could fix everything? She was not Wu the Lotus Blossom, the beloved senior student of Master Li of Two Rivers. She was just Dawn Star, a young woman with an ominous name and dark talents that only invited superstition and suspicion, and who could only get the attention of the most hated man in the village.

She should have figured out her place by now. How did she become such good friends with Wu, and even Jing Woo, and how did she ever get the affection of the well-loved leaders of the village? How was that not enough for the common villager to look upon her as they do their neighbor, at the very least?

"She didn't mean it."

Dawn Star jumped and turned to see Jong Jin standing before her. He played with the fringes of his soaked robe as he stared fixedly at his feet. His voice was quiet, meek, and apologetic.

"You know she didn't mean it, don't you?"

"Jin, I—"

"I'm so sorry," said Jin as he clenched his fists and looked away. "I thought that… since Mama doesn't like ghosts… and everybody likes _you_ … that if I couldn't talk to her, maybe… maybe you… could. I didn't think she would… say worse things to you than she does to me. I'm so very sorry!"

He bowed, and Dawn Star found that she had no words to speak. What could she say? That not everybody liked her, that she was not sure whether or not his mother truly meant the words she said? That even if Jong Yu didn't _mean_ what she said, that some of what she said _was_ true? That _she_ was sorry that she had failed?

"Jin…" Dawn Star started, and she realized that the boy was sobbing. That could not be good for a spirit's sanity. "Jin, please don't cry. It's okay. I'm not angry."

"But you're sad, because I made you sad, like I made Mama sad."

Dawn Star forced a little smile. "I'm not sad, I'm just… a little surprised, is all. And I'm worried. About you, and your mother."

"Worried?" Jong Jin looked up at Dawn Star, and he bit his lip. "Why… why are you worried?"

Dawn Star took a breath. She should have told this to Jong Jin last night. "Your mother… she will be fine, in time, and she will be ready to see you. She's not ready right now. Just… wait a few weeks. These things take time. But I'm worried about you, which makes me worry for her, because you said that you can't wait that long. I worry about what will happen to you, if you have to wait that long, and what will happen to her."

Jong Jin fell quiet as his sobs subsided. "What will happen to me?" he wondered. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… that sometimes, sometimes, if a spirit can't find rest, they turn into monsters. That is what your mother is afraid of. She's afraid of the monster you might become, and that's why she won't see _you_ right now. She sees the ghosts that everyone talks about, the ones that attack people. She still blames herself for what happened, but she must think that you blame her… if you're not strong enough, Jin, you will become the monster that blames her."

"But I _don't_."

"I know you don't, and hopefully, within time, she'll stop blaming herself so much, and then she'll be able to see you for what you are: the little boy she still loves. But you must remain strong."

"Strong…" Jong Jin stared at Dawn Star for a while, and she wished that she had said all these words to him last night, but there was no taking it back now. Perhaps Jong Jin needed to see his mother react the way she did before he could realize that she needed some time before she could bear to see him again, and perhaps all this would help him in the long run. "… can you help me? I… I don't think I can do it by myself. And you… you're nice, and you can help me. Will you help me?"

Dawn Star hesitated, but not for too long before she smiled. "Yes, Jin, I will help you."


	5. Wu the Lotus Blossom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wu the Lotus Blossom reflects on her destiny and the repercussions such a promise will bring. A different look on the first chapter of the game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Though this is a retelling of the first chapter of the game, I hope that I have taken away the feel of game-play and given you a feel of storytelling instead. Enjoy!

Smiling Mountain commented that afternoon how rare it was to see the top student going into the school's archives of literature and history, and how he hoped that it would inspire the other students to do more to advance their studies than spar all the time. Knowing where we came from, and how we got here, is important, he said. Wu had only smiled pleasantly at him and without a word entered the dark and musty old library across from the student quarters for the rest of the day.

She skimmed through all the books, all the scrolls, and found different stories, myths, and legends, and with a heavy heart she rarely read past the first paragraph, or chapter, or verse. As the sun began to set behind the hills and she could no longer rely on its light to read, she returned the books back to their respective shelves, and she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes as she let the sounds of combat from the ring just outside soothe her.

Every story had the same beginning, and what a horrible beginning they all were.

Master Li had said something about her destiny to one of the other students that morning, while he was berating him about his lack of attention to his studies, and she overheard Wen regale Si Pat with one of his favorite hero legends that was very popular in the Imperial City. Wen had said something that bothered her, something she could not keep off her mind, and she remembered her dreams of flames and ash that had plagued her the past few nights. She had shrugged them off as merely nightmares, her subconscious disturbing her with some poetic idea of self-discovery, but now she wondered, and feared, that they were far more than that.

 _No great destiny comes without great tragedy_.

That was ridiculous. She stood, stretched her back and rolled her neck and decided that a good spar could clear her head and help her forget all about it. It was useless to dwell on some unknown of the future.

Wu slid open the door of the library and saw that every open space to spar in the school was occupied by other students. Lin and her friend took the ring, as they usually did, and she could hear matches in Smiling Mountain's training grounds and back behind Master Li's house. Besides that, nobody else was available to spar—anyone who could was already in a match or nowhere to be found, and everyone else had to keep to their required non-combat studies and chores that Smiling Mountain had insisted Wu not bother them to abandon. Si Pat ran around the school lighting lanterns, and Wu decided she was better off finding something else to do.

She circled the ring from a distance, so that whoever was waiting to use the ring after Lin would not assume that she wished to use it after her, and so that Lin would not get distracted with knowing that Wu was watching. Wu refused to let herself be critical about other students—she only watched Jing Woo out of habit, and Kia Min out of curiosity—but she did notice how, as soon as Lin saw Wu watching, her style would change from flowing, natural moves to rough and rigid displays of skills she did not yet possess. Wu enjoyed watching Lin when she danced in the ring, and if only Lin would let herself fight like that even when—

Wu shook her head. She must find something else to do.

She quietly snuck out of the inner gates and made her way to the garden. Dawn Star was in private training with Master Li and would not emerge until it was time to retire for the night, but perhaps a quiet meditation by the creek would be good. Hardly anyone, barring Gao the Lesser, thought to come here unless they had to run an errand, or were claiming to, and so Wu found a nice, open patch of ground, where Dawn Star had recently planted new seeds. She knelt, and as she bent her head to begin her meditations, she could not help but to smile.

Little green sprouts had risen from the dark, rich soil, their simplicity a clean slate for how they would bloom. She did not understand the growth and intricacies of the life of flowers the way that Dawn Star did, but she appreciated her friend's philosophy behind each flower planted. Wu brushed her fingers over one of the tiny leaves, and she remembered a story she had read when she was younger, about a young woman fulfilling her destiny with no tragedy befalling her home—only a call to arms, and she saved the empire, and her family, her friends, and her love, all survived. Wu already knew about her destiny, and Master Li had all the other details, which was a lot better than most of the other heroes stacked up in the Jade Empire's lore and history.

She had nothing to worry about. She would go and save the world, see the empire, and she would come back to Two Rivers, and everything would be okay. It had to be.

She heard a soft chuckle from behind her and a cheerful voice say, "You're that bored to be taking up gardening, now? It's unlike you."

Wu looked over her shoulder to see Jing Woo approach her with an easy smile and laughter in his eyes. She stood to face him, and she crossed her arms and matched his grin. "Is that so bad? Dawn Star does it. It seems to work for her."

"For her, maybe, but not for you. I'm surprised you're not hovering around the ring or asking Smiling Mountain to set you up with a match or two. If you're not careful, Kia Min will one-up you again."

She frowned; he, of course, had to bring that up. "Maybe you should be more concerned with your own training than mine," she said. "Besides, to one-up me anymore, she'd have to start breaking my records. I made sure that they were not easy records to break." A beat. "It'd do you good to try to catch up to _her_ , at least. There's still a considerable gap in your skills to hers. What are you trying to do, embarrass me, my former student?"

Jing Woo laughed. "There are much, much easier ways for me to embarrass you anymore, my former master," he said. "You make it too easy for me."

Wu snorted. "Well, then, I guess I have to make it harder for you, now, won't I?" she said as she pushed past him. She smiled when he grabbed her arm and bid her to wait, and she remembered the first time he had done so in front of all the other students, not really knowing what he was doing, but still firm and unafraid, and refreshingly different.

"I wasn't complaining," he said more softly, and he pulled her close to him. "It's nice that I have that over you."

"Hm," Wu pouted as he leaned forward and lightly brushed his lips over hers. "I'm not sure if you deserved to do that. Maybe we should spar for a few minutes, get some practicing into this free time of yours, then maybe you would have earned it."

"This, after not getting beat by anyone today?"

"You're getting cocky. You do realize that anyone who could have beaten you was preoccupied all day today?"

"I know, I know, all _four of you_ were busy with other things. Or, in Gao's case, on his last day of suspension." Jing Woo grinned. "You know, I wonder how long it'll take before he cries home to his father for the last time and Gao the Greater decides it's not worth sending his son here."

Wu shrugged. "Hopefully sooner rather than later. Are we going to spar, or what?"

Jing Woo raised an eyebrow. "You weren't kidding."

She grinned, and she broke out of his arms and grabbed his wrist. "Am I ever? Let's spar!" Besides, it was a good diversion. It was like Dawn Star said—to speak of Gao the Lesser, to think of him, when he was absent, was giving the boy more power than he needed or deserved. For Wu to start ranting about the indignities of the boy's presence in Two Rivers when he was nowhere in sight would be to lose to him. And that, she would not have.

Wu tried to pull Jing Woo towards the small clearing of the garden, but when she took a couple of steps forward and felt a small tug pulling her back, she frowned and turned to him. His normally laughing face wore a puckered brow, and Wu released his wrist.

"What is it?" she asked. She had seen this face once before, and what a scene they had made in front of the entire school when he refused to own up to what was bothering him. She hoped that he learned his lesson from that episode.

"You looked troubled. Earlier," he clarified. "All day, actually. And even now. Are you okay?"

Wu pursed her lips. Her worries sounded so silly in her head. No great destiny comes without great tragedy, how could she tell Jing Woo that without him poking a little fun? Besides, most of her examples were just legends, stories, and not historical accounts, and he would point that out, and it would do her no good.

And had she not _just_ convinced herself that everything was going to be okay?

"It's nothing. Nothing big, anyway. I'm over it now. Are we going to spar? It'll be twilight soon, which means this is our last chance for the day."

Jing Woo was quiet for a moment, and Wu headed towards the clearing, not waiting to hear a retort or a "are you sure?" Yes, she was sure, and they were going to spar, _now_ , before Dawn Star returned and they no longer had any time alone together. That seemed to have worked, and she heard the soft crunch of grass following her. Good. She spun and grinned wickedly at Jing Woo, whose carefree face had returned, and he bowed to her, shaking his head.

"I swear, one of these days," he said, "I'll find a way around your guard."

Wu laughed. "I'd have to wear a blindfold for you to even have a chance." She tugged at the white ribbon that bound her hair together. "I have one handy."

"Now who's the one getting cocky?" And the two fell into battle stances to begin their bout.

As she threw the first kick to his torso, which he expertly blocked, she remembered their first match together, when she moved, and he didn't, and he was on the ground defeated. Now he sidestepped, and he ducked, and he threw his forearm in front of him, much like their many fights after, and now he was able to land more than a few blows to her body. Wu grinned through the bout, silently thanking Master Li for allowing her to be a part of another student's development, for letting her get close to someone else in the school, and for giving her a very good reason to return to Two Rivers when her adventure was over. Jing Woo still had a long way to go before he came close to her in skill, so he would still be here. Whatever happened after that, she really didn't care.

Wu spun and landed a solid foot into his chest, and he sprawled backwards and lost his footing. The match was over, and if Wu had timed it correctly, he lasted five seconds longer than he usually did. She extended a hand to him, and he grabbed it, but too late she realized that his smile was not one of satisfaction but of wicked intent, and he pulled her down and stole a kiss as she planted a hand on the grass to catch herself.

"Told you so," he said when he pulled away. Wu glared at him.

"Cheater." But she relented and leaned down to kiss him again. The position she was in made up for his little trickery—he was hers now, and all trespasses were forgiven. Or, better yet, she thought as she smirked through their kisses, revenge shall be hers. Yes, that was a _much_ better plan.

The doors above them squeaked open, and Wu swore as she hopped to her feet, Jing Woo begrudgingly following. And, of course, it had to be Gao the Lesser entering through the gates, returning from his suspension. Perfect.

"What do you think you're doing, Gao?" she demanded. "You're cutting it close to curfew, don't you think?"

Gao snorted and didn't break his stride as he walked down the hill from the gates. "What's it to you? Am I interrupting something? Your private romps won't be so private if you keep at it. I'd be more worried about yourself than about me if I were you."

Wu felt her face flush. "How _dare_ you be so presumptuous—"

"Presumptuous? Ha!" Gao stopped in front of her and crossed his arms. "With how many times you two have been caught, I'm almost surprised that Master Li is turning a blind eye to it. And Lin actually thinks that you're managing to fool him. Even Kia Min is better at this game than you, and I would be, too."

"If that's the case, then why don't you tell him? Too scared?" Wu drawled, and she heard Jing Woo shift uncomfortably behind her.

"For what purpose? If the old man is busy playing pretend, he won't listen, or he won't care, and _I'd_ get the fall for it, somehow. I always do."

"Don't call him that. With all that disrespect you throw around, I'm not surprised that Master Li is so hesitant on training you and instead punishing you all the time."

"When he decides to start respecting _my_ training, maybe I'll start respecting _him_ ," Gao snarled. "When he decides that _your_ training is not more important than everyone else's, when he decides that you are no special than anyone else, and I get some real education around here, maybe then—"

"You'll stop being a complete ass?" said Wu shortly. She knew better than to let Gao go off on a tirade by now. More harm than good ever came from it.

Gao glared at her. "I am through with you. I would love nothing more than to teach you a lesson or two, but you would cower away under Master Li's protection."

Wu rolled her eyes. "He's told me _not_ to—"

"Exactly. Go attend to your other duties, 'senior student.' Be the example we all wish we could be."

Gao stormed past them and over the bridge, and Wu bit her tongue and glared at the spot where he had once stood, running through all the best retorts she could come up with. A punch in the face, a knee in the groin, drawing a sword out of thin air and slicing him neatly in two…

When she heard the footsteps disappear into the darkness, she spun on her heel towards the nearby boulder and raised her fist, only for a warm, strong hand to snatch it in mid-air.

"I think, my friend, that that would hurt quite a bit," said Jing Woo quietly with only the slightest bit of humor in his voice. "I know he's an infuriating man, but why do you let him get to you so much?"

Wu glanced at him and yanked her hand back, and she said nothing as he placed his hands on her shoulders gently. "He only has his words," he continued. "He's harmless otherwise. You know you could beat him in a fight when Master Li allows it."

"'Harmless?'" Wu whispered, and she turned to face him. "What about what he did to you a few months ago? What he has done to the younger students, when they disagree with him? That's hardly harmless. I want nothing more than to fight him, Woo. I want to do to him what he's done to others, just to show him that there is no honor in it, and… and…"

"If you say to avenge me, while I'd be flattered, it's not necessary. He didn't _kill_ me, after all. I can still avenge myself. Eventually." He wrapped his arms around her and paused. "Do you think Master Li knows?"

Wu shook her head. "If he did, he would have scolded me about getting too distracted from my studies by now, don't you think? Even if neither of our training has slipped at all."

"Would it have stopped you?"

She said nothing at first. Lectures from Master Li have stopped her in the past from a myriad of little things ranging from habits to her perception of the world and the people in it. She always listened, she always obeyed, and she knew that if he had forbidden her from consorting with Jing Woo, she would have reluctantly done so.

Then again, she knew, when she first kissed him after a private match in the garden—simply because it felt like the right thing to do—that Master Li would not approve, and his stern voice had voiced his censure in the back of her head when Jing Woo had kissed back. She continued doing it anyway, for many, many times after that, her master's voice diminishing every time she did so.

Wu smiled. "No, Woo, it didn't stop me at all."

* * *

She had barely begun to breathe again after Master Li cleanly and quickly disposed of the dark sorcerer on the beach when she and Dawn Star returned to the school and made a beeline towards Kia Min, where Jing Woo was hovering over her injured leg and for once had no easy joke or quip flowing endlessly from his lips. Kia Min, at least, seemed to be in fairly good spirits, with a small smirk and little gestures teasing him for fretting too much, but he would have none of that. She glanced up, and saw Wu and Dawn Star approach, and waved to the two enthusiastically.

Jing Woo followed Kia Min's glanced and sighed in relief. "I'm glad you're alright," he said quietly. Wu smiled.

"Of course we would be," she replied. "They were unskilled and easily beat." Which was true, but they had killed, and Wu could not shake the image of the poor baker falling to two rogue bandits who snuck ahead of their gang, the mysterious firepower that turned the foliage of the beach from a vibrant green to a nauseating dark red, and the emergence of wild, mad ghosts that Wu had thought only to be village hearsay.

Wu was glad that Master Li had averted the danger her dreams had warned her about. She was unsure if she would have been able to prevent it as readily as he had.

"Yeah, that's what Gao is saying, too," said Kia Min with a sigh. "No one's paying any attention to him, though, so don't worry about him stealing your thunder, senior student." She winked and continued. "Everyone's still jittery and excited, except for this one—" She jammed a thumb in Jing Woo's direction. "—who can't seem to accept the fact that I was injured because of my foolish lack of attention, and not because I was outclassed."

Jing Woo glared at her. "Ambushes like this aren't normal, not for a town like this. And now you can't fight for a few weeks! How can you shrug this off so casually?"

Wu frowned. This was more than just concern for a good friend, and she wasn't the only one who noticed.

"You seem edgy, Woo," said Dawn Star gently. "Is something the matter?"

Jing Woo opened his mouth, and then closed it and shook his head. "No, no, I just… look, the end result of this attack could have been worse than it was. More people could have died, houses could have burned down… it's just good that we have our illustrious senior student and Master Li here." He smiled weakly, but Wu wasn't buying it. "Besides, it's just too bad that Kia Min got injured after breaking Wu's record yesterday."

Wu blinked. "Wait, what?"

He grinned, and in Wu knew that he was trying to change the subject, and she knew that she, and Kia Min, and Dawn Star, were going to let him do so. Besides, Kia Min _what_?

Kia Min nodded, her smile growing wider. "That's right. I managed to beat four opponents at once yesterday, beating your record by one."

" _What_?" Wu had had trouble fighting three students when she set the old record last month. There was no way Kia Min was that good!

Dawn Star laughed, and Wu shot her an unenthusiastic glare. At least Dawn Star seemed to be in better spirits since the attack. She had feared that they had not seen the last of it; Wu was inclined to disagree. This was merely the catalyst that most stories had to send the hero off on his journey to save the world. Most of the time, it ended more poorly than this, but Wu lucked out. She smiled to herself, and turned her attention back to Jing Woo, remembering the jests from last night, and she frowned.

"You knew about this last night, didn't you? 'Kia Min is going to one-up you again,' you liar, she already _had_!"

"I don't think those were my exact words."

"I'm pretty sure they _were_. You'll pay for that, you know."

"And would it be so terrible for me to admit that I'm looking forward to it?"

Wu dropped her jaw at his sudden bravery into admitting their relationship in front of the others. Of course Dawn Star already knew, and she would not have been surprised if he had told Kia Min—and judging from her hand covering her mouth, he had—but never had he been so bold as to try flirtatious lines within earshot of the entire school. Wu pursed her lips, her cheeks feeling warm, and she decided that the best way to handle this would be to walk away.

"I'm getting my record back," she said.

"Wait, Wu," said Kia Min quickly, before she could take a step away from the group. "You can't challenge my record yet. Smiling Mountain won't have enough opponents for you, not while I'm still injured."

Wu stared incredulously at her. "You're kidding," she said, but as she did the math in her head, she knew that Kia Min was right; Smiling Mountain would not let someone inept participate in such a match, and the only other people, like Dawn Star and Jing Woo, who could replace Kia Min otherwise wouldn't for personal reasons, or because Master Li wouldn't let them, as in the case of Gao the Lesser.

"I wish I was," she replied, and at first Wu mistook the lack of disappointment in her voice as relief that she would be able to hold this record, since Wu was going to graduate soon. But, Kia Min smiled a little too eagerly, and Wu realized what the relief in her voice actually was. "Then again, I heard of an herb that could speed up the healing process. My brother told me about it once. It's a rare grass, I think, and Old Ming might know if anybody. He's very interested in herbs. I know it's a stretch, but…"

Wu perked up; she knew she liked Kia Min for a reason. "Do you remember what it's called?"

"Wu," Dawn Star hissed. "She's better off letting this wound heal naturally. Don't make her push herself to heal your own ego."

"It's for her ego and mine," said Kia Min. "I can't stand the fact that I won't be fighting for a few weeks. I want to get back to my training, as quickly as possible, and Wu will be doing a bigger favor for me than for her."

"Yes, but Kia Min—"

"Don't worry, Dawn Star, my brother has never steered me wrong before, and neither has Wu."

Dawn Star fell quiet, shaking her head but accepting that neither of the girls' resolves could be deterred so quickly. Wu smiled apologetically at her; this wasn't the first time, and it surely wouldn't be the last.

Kia Min continued. "I'm sorry, Wu, but I don't remember what it's called. Old Ming would know. He's probably down by the beach, as always. I know Master Li wants to talk to you, but this hopefully won't take too long. I'll pay you back if you have to buy anything. I know Fen Do has been stingy with his pricings ever since Jing Woo charmed himself out of having to pay full price one time too many."

"This discussion again?" asked Jing Woo with an exasperated sigh.

"Don't complain, Woo. Remember, you still owe me."

Wu grinned. "Right, find Old Ming, talk to him about this herb, get you healed up, and get my record back. Then I'll talk to Master Li. Okay?"

She turned to Dawn Star as she said this, who only shrugged. "I guess I don't really have much of a choice in the matter, do I? Just don't keep Master Li waiting too long. Gao looks like he's about to throw a fit."

Sure enough, Gao the Lesser paced outside of Master Li's house, kicking idly at stones and stopping every so often to glower towards the direction of the house, and towards Wu, always lingering for a few seconds on her. For a moment Wu worried that he was going to storm towards them and demand why she wasn't talking to Master Li already, he wasn't learning anything because he was waiting for her, and they would cause a scene and she would never get her record back before she set off on her journey. She wrinkled her nose and turned towards the inner gates, deciding that it was best that she not deal with the boy right now.

"Alright, alright, I'll go talk to Old Ming now," she said. "Someone keep their eyes on that boy until I get back. Not Dawn Star," she added quickly.

"Of course not," Dawn Star replied. "I intend to come with you. You might be on Old Ming's good side now that you've saved the village, but just in case."

Wu sighed. "He holds grudges for too long. That was a _year_ ago. This better had been enough to atone." She pushed back the memory of Old Ming barking at her last summer when she decided that it was too hot to do anything but splash around in the gentle waves of the river, and he had decided that she was being too loud and obnoxious for his elderly ears. It was hardly an offense worthy of a grudge, but as Dawn Star pointed out later, Wu had an image she needed to maintain in the village, and after nearly twenty years of being the upstanding citizen, she could not dare slip now. "Let's go."

* * *

The rest of the day was a blur, and Wu hurried to the garden after her long-awaited match against Gao the Lesser to piece together everything that had happened. She remembered buying Old Ming's recommended poultice from Fen Do, and bartering down Fen Do's price in a manner that had Jing Woo gloating when she returned and informed Kia Min—the student has become the master, he had said. Kia Min kept true to her promise and not only paid her back in full, but held no malice towards Wu for stealing back her record.

"It was very convenient that I broke it before I got injured. I doubt you would have gotten this poultice for me otherwise," she had said with an appreciative smile.

That was when Wu's memory became fuzzy. She remembered speaking with Master Li, though what about she could barely recall, and she remembered Gao yelling at her and her yelling back, and somehow they had wound up in the ring in a match more difficult than any other match she had been in before. She remembered being frustrated, and she remembered Gao being out of breath, and she remembered winning—and then Gao was expelled and that was all anyone could talk about. Well, everyone but Lin, who seemed to be the only person concerned about this next step in Wu's supposed destiny: the Spirit Cave.

"I asked around town, and there's old, old stories of students before us going into that cavern and never finding their way out," she had said. "You know, the senior students before you who left here and never came back. Then again, you are the strongest of us, as we're so often reminded, so you'll be fine."

Wu hugged her knees to her chest as she sat on the steps of the house in the garden. This was happening. The past few years all anyone would say to the new students about her was that she was destined for something great, and all Master Li would say when he pointed at Wu for the other students to look up to was that she had a great destiny to be fulfilled. Wu had developed many fears about her destiny, all of them eventually cast aside, but now that it was here, she was unsure of what to think or how to feel.

"These invaders discovered us by accident, but as you likely suspect, they are related to your destiny," Master Li had said. "You will have a pivotal role in some great events, my student."

She thought about the times she spent drinking tea with Dawn Star, laughing and chatting away like the gossiping women in the village; she thought about the private bouts she shared with Jing Woo; and she thought about the odd little competitions she and Kia Min made up as an odd style of friendly rivalry. She thought about how she would miss it when she was on the road towards her future, and what she would do without any of it. No one to talk to, no one to comfort her, no one to have a little bit of fun with…

"I don't want to leave," she said suddenly, startled at her revelation. "I don't want this special, fancy destiny." She closed her eyes. "Why can't I just stay?"

"Because you have to save the world, as it turns out."

Wu jumped and looked up to see Jing Woo smiling at her. She sighed. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that," she reprimanded softly.

"And you should be more aware of your surroundings, senior student," he said as he took a seat next to her. "Do you really think a ghost, or a sorcerer, would wait for you to shake yourself out of your trance before attacking you?" Wu frowned—she had heard something like that somewhere before. Jing Woo grinned. "That was the first lesson you taught me, on our first day together. I've been remembering a lot about that day today, ever since… ever since the bandits attacked."

He sighed, and his smile disappeared. Wu bit her lip, and asked, "Are you alright?" She could not believe that he was so willing to bring this up, or open a huge opportunity for her to find out what had bothered him so much earlier in the day, but relieved that he had done so, at least, even if it had been the farthest thing from her mind.

Jing Woo shrugged. "I'm not dead. In theory, I couldn't be better. That's what kept running through my mind before I arrived here. I never did tell you how I wound up here in Two Rivers, did I?"

"I never really did ask."

"I know, and I was grateful for it, though… you seemed interested in Lin's story and Wen's story, and even Si Pat's and Kia Min's, but you never asked me. I'd always wondered why, but, I knew it really didn't matter. I just assumed that you figured out that I didn't come here under peaceful conditions."

Wu smiled softly and brushed her fingers alongside his face. "Honestly, I never asked, simply because, for some reason, I was just glad that you were here. And I'm not just giving you pretty words."

Jing Woo laughed sheepishly and turned his head away. "Well, my way of living before I stumbled into Gujin's workshop was the first thing anyone heard about me, that's why I just sort of figured that you… anyway, that's not important. I feel like I need to tell you this. I was on edge after the attack because… because it was bandits that destroyed my first home."

He closed his eyes. "They came through, set my village on fire, and killed everyone they could find. An old man hid me and a few other children away in a cellar and told us to stay there for three days, and we did, and when we emerged—" He shuddered. "Never mind. It's in the past. I just feel like you should know.

"I'm bringing this up because Master Li said your destiny has something to do with the attack on Two Rivers today. It has to mean that you really are part of something big. And Lin was telling me about the cavern beneath the school, and, well, I guess I just wanted to say, before you go down there…"

He trailed off, and Wu found that she did not have anything to say. She combed her head for any trail of words, anything at all, but the only sound she could manage was a sympathetic murmuring of his name.

Jing Woo turned back to her and stared at her for a moment, and then he leaned in and kissed her more gently and more desperately than she ever remembered him kissing her.

"Come back to me," he breathed.

Wu smiled and rested her forehead on his. "I will," she promised.

* * *

She was dreaming again. The sky was dyed a blood red and flames licked the hills and the fields, and black snow fell to the ground, into her hair, and into her eyes, and as she ran up the path from the beach she blinked back the discomfort, the stinging, and the tears.

Wu nearly tripped over a body slumped by the entrance into the town square, and she recognized the body as the man whose lifesavings she had mistaken for a bandit's loot, who she had run into on her way into the swamp. He had been making a run for the beach, she realized, to find shelter in one of the hidden caves, when a mercenary had thrown an axe into his back.

She bit her lip. She never recognized any of the bodies in her dream before.

"Wu, we have to keep going," said Dawn Star.

Wu looked at Dawn Star, who was standing next to the strange hermit she had run into in the swamp—Sagacious Zu, was it? She shook her head. She never had anyone else with her before in her dream, either. This was wrong. This was so very wrong.

"Everything you have is gone. My father has seen to it," Gao the Lesser had said in the cave, before Wu had brandished her sword and struck him down. The culprits never had an identity before. There had never been reason before.

The bandit attack yesterday should have been the end of it.

"This can't be happening," Wu whispered, and a helpless look crossed Dawn Star's face.

"If we don't hurry, you're going to be too late to save anybody," Zu urged impatiently.

Wu closed her eyes and nodded slowly. "Okay, let's go."

The three entered the town square, and Wu saw a band of mercenaries towering over fallen students and villagers. Wu drew her sword, and Dawn Star and Zu did not hesitate to do the same, and neither did the mercenaries, who pointed in their direction and charged forward. She wondered what had possessed her to be so merciful to Gao's men in the swamp, that, if she could help it, she refused to kill them, that she would have been so annoyed with Zu's unhesitating death blows, if the mercenaries all had the ability to kill.

As she drove her blade into the chest of the last standing mercenary in the square, she realized she was thankful that Gao the Lesser had declared their final bout a death match, and that she had won, because at least it saved her the trouble of tracking him down to kill him for this.

Wu scowled; she would love to kill him again. She wondered if Dawn Star could help track down his spirit, so she could do just that.

Dawn Star glanced around the square. "We can't get up the stairs. There's too much debris. I only hope that means that Gao's men couldn't make it up there, either, so there would be survivors up there."

"I wouldn't count on it," said Zu. "The damage is what I expected. No one was meant to survive."

"That doesn't mean that they're dead," Wu snapped. She stared up at the stairs to Gujin's place, and remembered that many people lived up there, and Gujin had enough weapons for all of them, and Gujin had been a guard in the west and a few mercenaries would have been no match for him. They were fine up there.

Wu looked around the town square, and she saw Fen Do slumped over the stairs to his shop, and she saw Jong Yu's shop caved in, and she saw Si Pat's body moved from the front of the school gate to the middle of the square, and two of the villagers who had been moving his body when the attack came. At the entrance to the school, where the wooden doors had been burned down, Lin sat against the stone wall, a blood smear trailing down to her head and pooling by her side.

A chill swept through Wu. Lin was dead. So were other students. "No," she whispered to herself. "No. He's alive. Don't be foolish. He wouldn't die so easily." She turned to Dawn Star, and she was very careful to be firm with her words. "We have to hurry, or Zu's right. We won't be able to save anybody."

Dawn Star nodded, and Zu grimly pursed his lips and said nothing more. He seemed uneasy, but for now Wu knew that they were better off welcoming his help. He had done so much, and she had no reason to suspect him. Besides, Master Li, and Jing Woo and Kia Min, they were going to need their help, and soon, before more students and villagers fell.

They ran into the school, and Wu felt her heart sink lower into her stomach as she passed the burning and bleeding corpses of the children Master Li had taken in, and more students who had tried to fight their way into Two Rivers to help the villagers. The pagoda had collapsed under the burning pillars and so had the little house where she and Dawn Star had spent so many hours chatting over tea and cakes, where she and Jing Woo had spent many days sparring beside the calm trickling of the stream and the cool of the shade, where she had witnessed Kia Min sneaking out of the school and Lin sneaking back into the school…

"It's all gone," Dawn Star murmured sadly as she stopped and stared at her garden.

Zu placed a hand on her shoulder. "We have to keep moving."

Dawn Star closed her eyes for a moment. "Every spring I planted flowers here, one for each student. Now, it's like each flower has wilted with each death that has happened here. Now, it's all gone."

"There are survivors," Wu hissed. "Dawn Star, please, I need you to stay strong."

Dawn Star turned to Wu, and their eyes met, and then Dawn Star nodded. "We must not lose faith," she said, and Wu could not decide if she thought she was echoing her thoughts or if she was trying to comfort her.

They continued over the barely intact bridge, and Wu coughed as something exploded on the hill on the other side and smoke caught her lungs. When the fog cleared, she looked up the hill and saw Kia Min swing her staff into the chests of two mercenaries with a skillful edge that Wu had never seen before, and a resolve in her eyes that almost intimidated her.

Kia Min turned towards them and breathed a sigh of relief. "You're here!"

"Are you alright?" Wu asked as they approached each other.

"I'm fine," said Kia Min, "but… the others… you have to keep going. Others are still alive in the school. I'll look to the villagers and save as many as I can." She paused for a moment, and a look of despair crossed her eyes. " _Go_ , before it's too late."

Wu nodded, and Kia Min dashed down the hill towards the village. They weren't too late after all. Some of the students could still be saved, which meant…

She took a deep breath and motioned for Dawn Star and Zu to go into the main part of the school as explosions surrounded and clouded their path. They pushed through the smoke, and Wu squinted her eyes to keep her vision so that she would not be easily ambushed, but when she finally caught sight of the sparring ring, where she had spent so many happy times and trying times, and where she had learned so many lessons, she saw a sight more infuriating than all the ones before.

One mercenary stood in the center facing off a student—Wen!—and others lined the fence as they casually hung over the railings and watched with faces ranging from amused to irritated. Some laughed, others pointed, and she overheard one gloat about how he could dispose of the boy much quicker and in lesser hits. Wu dashed as quickly as she could to keep the mercenary from striking any killing blows, because Wen would not survive this. As she reached the entrance to the ring, however, Wen crumpled to the ground, lifeless.

His mother had sent him here because she had wanted him to be safe, Wu remembered him saying.

The mercenary quickly took notice of the three of them, and he rolled his eyes. "We _missed_ some of you pitiful students? This is like crushing ants. There's no end to you people!"

"Ants?" Dawn Star screamed. "Ants! That's all their lives were to you?"

Wu locked her eyes on the mercenary and gripped the handle of her sword tightly. These men were not simply doing their job, like the man in front of the cave had claimed. They were enjoying this. They were having fun with this, they were making games out of it. Wen, Lin, everyone, all of them, deserved much better than this.

"You will pay for this slaughter," Wu snarled.

The mercenary rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, that's what all the rest of your fellows said, too." He smirked. "Right before their heads hit the ground."

Wu couldn't remember what happened next. There must have been another explosion, because all she saw was red, and all she heard was white and metal clanging on metal, through flesh, and she felt blood splatter across her cheeks and across her belly and drip down her hand, and somewhere in the back of her head she heard Master Li reprimand her for losing focus so easily, that she would surely lose if she kept this up, and that he was disappointed in her. She pierced through a mercenary's battered armor, and that mercenary fell into a bloody heap on the dirt, and, when she realized that no more were coming after her, that she had killed them all, she stabbed her sword into the ground and slumped over the handle as she balanced her weapon with her wrists and her forehead.

She struggled to even out her breathing, and she tried to remember the exercises Master Li had taught her to do just that, but every word, every image was eclipsed by the memory of Gao the Lesser's final words, by the sneers of his father's mercenaries, and Wu gritted her teeth. These were Gao the Greater's men. They did this, under _his_ orders.

Wu clenched her fists. She was going to track down and murder that man.

"Wu…"

She caught her breath as she recognized the broken voice. "Woo," she breathed, and she stood and turned in time to see him collapse, Dawn Star just barely able to catch him before he hit his head on the stone.

Wu took two steps towards him, but she saw the wounds and the black and purple bruises that covered his body, and she froze. She heard Dawn Star reassuring him that he'd be safe, that Gao's men were gone now, and she knew that he was choking out the words she needed to hear, about what had happened when the flyers covered the village and dropped casks of fire on the people and the students. She knew that she needed to listen, but she saw the blood gush from his limbs and heard his voice and his breaths betraying his struggle to stay alive just long enough, and she could not.

She wanted to throw herself on him and never leave, the restless dead and the Lotus Assassins be damned, but she could not bring herself to move. Time would press forward, and he would die, if she moved.

"You'll be alright," Dawn Star pleaded. "Just be still."

Jing Woo smiled weakly at her, a smile that all but said, no, I won't be alright, but thank you anyway, and he too slowly turned his head to meet Wu's eyes, and she shook her head desperately.

"No," she said quietly. "No, don't you dare."

"I… I tried."

"Woo, don't you even think about it—"

"I tried so hard." He paused, and his eyes softened, and Wu remembered their kiss in the garden—so gentle and so soft—and his soft caress on her cheek before she met with Master Li to enter the Spirit Cave, and the words she felt like she needed to say before she left, the words she decided that she did not actually need to say, and the words she thought she heard him whisper as she disappeared into their master's house.

"Woo…"

"I'm sorry."

And he closed his eyes.

Wu fell to her knees. This wasn't supposed to happen. It hadn't happened in her dreams, nor in the legends and the stories and the poems, and it wasn't supposed to happen now. By the Great Dragon, how was this not a nightmare? When would she wake up?

"Wu, he told me…" Dawn Star started, and Wu closed her eyes. No, no, please no. Dawn Star continued, more subdued, and defeated. "He said that there was no warning. Just calm skies and then fire from above. He organized the students, but they were overrun." She paused. "Master Li was taken when it began. He went without a fight, giving them what they wanted, but afterwards the students… they… they were killed anyway."

"The Lotus Assassins," said Zu quietly. "They leave no one alive to tell the tale. People fear the unknown. For Gao the Greater to have them as allies is… troubling."

Wu slowly opened her eyes and fixated her gaze on a sharp pebble. A Lotus Assassin had led the first attack on Two Rivers, and now a whole hoard of them had come through, kidnapped Master Li, killed the students and… she clenched her fists.

Zu continued, "The figure your friend spoke of is Death's Hand, the leader of the Lotus Assassins. They answer to him alone, and he would not appear unless this was important. He usually acts behind the scenes." He fell quiet, and Wu remembered Master Li saying something like this. She just never dreamed for an instant that he would have infected her life so soon.

"This… student," said Zu, suddenly, "was strong to live as long as he did."

There was a tenderness in his voice that Wu had not expected to hear from the hermit, and she raised her head to look at him. He sadly stared down at her, and she remembered that he came into the village often, and she wondered if he had ever witnessed the precious moments she had shared with Jing Woo.

Of course he had. Everyone else had. Wu nodded slowly and climbed to her feet.

"Thank you," she muttered as she stared at the ground, away from Dawn Star, Zu, and Jing Woo.

"I don't know why they were so intent on taking your Master Li," he continued, and Wu could tell that his voice was now directed at Dawn Star, "but they never attack without purpose."

"Gao said something about ferreting out our hidden master and his true name," said Dawn Star. "Did Master Li tell you anything, Wu?"

"He told me that he was the Emperor's brother," said Wu, without thinking. "Gao overheard."

Zu sounded incredulous. "That's… that's not possible. Sun Li the Glorious Strategist would not have made these kinds of mistakes."

"Mistakes?" Dawn Star asked, and Wu was glad that she echoed her very thoughts. "What mistakes?"

"Well, for one, he would have known that giving himself up would not save your students."

Wu frowned and turned back to Zu. "If Death's Hand," she said his name with more spite than she had intended, "is as vicious as you say, then he had to try something."

Zu shook his head. "You don't understand. The Glorious Strategist would know his enemy, and if anything is true about the Lotus Assassins, it's that they don't leave survivors. I should know. I…" He hesitated. "I was one."

Wu said nothing at first, and she remembered the first time she saw him, when he fought mercilessly against Gao's men. She remembered his disdain when she let the mercenary in front of the cave go free, when she explained to him that killing him was unnecessary and would do them no good. He was no bandit, he had said, and he was clearly not one of Gao's men. He had not wanted to come here when they saw the flyers pass overhead. Of course, what else could he have been?

"I _knew_ finding you in the swamp was too convenient!" she snapped, and she reached for her fallen sword. "What do you know of this?"

"It doesn't matter," said Dawn Star.

Zu did not move, but he sadly shook his head. "No, she is right to question me. I am accustomed to such suspicion."

"It _doesn't matter_ ," Dawn Star insisted again. "Whoever you are, whatever you were, you did not do this, and you do not have our master!" She shot a glare at Wu, and Wu stopped in her tracks towards her sword and glared back. How could Dawn Star be so trusting, after everything that had happened? "We need to find a plan," she said firmly. "When we know where we are going and what we are doing, then we can discuss who knows what."

"Dawn Star—" Wu began, but Dawn Star cut her off.

"Wu, this isn't the time, and you know it. Take out your grief on someone who deserves it."

Wu sighed. Dawn Star was right. Of course she was. "Gao the Greater," she said. "He ordered this attack. He has to pay for it. And whoever else supported him, who helped him, all of them. The Lotus Assassins, Death's Hand… and we need to find Master Li. We can't lose Two Rivers completely."

Dawn Star nodded. "We will find Master Li. We must."

"Then let's get Gao the Lesser's contraption in the air again," said Zu. He turned and headed for the inner gates of the school, and Dawn Star and Wu followed. However, Wu found she could not step outside of the ring, and she stood there, still, and she realized that she could not leave. Not yet.

"Wu?" asked Dawn Star, concerned. "Wu, we can't waste anymore time here. Master Li will get too far ahead for us to catch up."

Wu did not respond to Dawn Star, and she stared helplessly at her. Dawn Star said nothing more, and the look in her eyes told Wu that she understood. "Go to him," she said.

As Wu walked slowly towards the fallen body in the ring, she remembered the first time she saw Jing Woo four years ago, when he was dripping wet from the rainstorm and out of his element. His hair had been messily tied up then, because he never had cause to worry about it before, and she remembered when he did not fully understand her standing in the school, and how he had not cared even after he did learn, and how their training sessions together was always the highlight of her days.

She remembered when she first kissed him in the garden on impulse, and how he had kissed back, and she remembered how often they tried to steal those little moments from each other whenever they could. She remembered when he first made more aggressive moves, and the first time they had spent an entire afternoon uninterrupted, and how amazing that afternoon had been, and how they worked too hard to find privacy since then.

Wu remembered the words that she thought she heard him say last night before she met with Master Li. She wished she could hear him say them now.

She stood over Jing Woo, and with the memories of four years playing through her head, she slowly lifted her hands in front of her, and bowed.

* * *

\- End -


End file.
